Since the second half of the 20th century, the field of meteorology (the study of the atmosphere, largely in an attempt to accurately forecast the weather) has moved forward in giant strides. Notable leaps included the development of operational weather radars after World War II; the first successful launch of a weather satellite in 1960; and an ever-expanding global network of upper air, land and ocean surface observations. Never before has so much weather data been available. Considering the rapid progress in research, as well as the numerical weather prediction explosion of the 1950s due to advances in computers, meteorology as a field of study is going places that it has never been able to go before.
These advances may seemingly have come too late for Leonard Hussey, the meteorologist who joined Ernest Shackleton aboard the Endurance. No doubt Mr. Hussey would have had measuring instruments, such as a barometer, anemometer and thermometer, as well as the official Observer’s Handbook published in 1909. These innovations on their own would not have been able to provide much of the crucial information the expedition needed to anticipate the weather systems or the sea ice conditions in the Weddell Sea.
