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METEOPTIC NEWS GROUP MESSAGE
There is three things in this long message.
A/. The reference to Fraser s book review on Meinel s, that I promised to
send a few days ago. Which is this: Fraser A.B. / Applied Optics:
"Sunsets,
Twilights and Evening Skies". Review. Vol. 23 (1984), no 10, p. 1670.
B/. A list of THE DOZEN major halo books and comments of them.
C/. In the very end I ask e-mail addresses of a few atmospheric optics
authors
in USA and in GB for the case anybody of you folks knows the answers.
DOZEN GREATEST HALO BOOKS of the last 150 years
The following list of central halo books is not intended as FAQ. I send
this for
the case some of you want to have a general view of the historically most
important dozen halo sources published through the last 150 years.
Seperate
books from one, same author have been united under one treatment; so
exactly
12 authors are discussed.
- Bravais A. / "Memoire sur les halos et les phenom`nes
optiques qui les accompagnent." Journ. de l'Ec. Polyt.
XVIII, 31. cah. (1847). In French.
This is the earliest book that really went inside the halo world.
Nowadays the whole thing is mostly only of historical value, yet
in the historical row it is surprisingly central. Discusses many halo
forms, several of them being quite crazy missunderstandings.
2. Hastings C.S. / "Light." Charles Scribner s Sons, New York (1902).
And also: Hastings C.S. / MWR: "A general theory of halos." Vol
48 (1920), pp 322-330. The latter not being a book, but major source.
Occasionally wonderfully written stuff, especially the eloquent attack
on Hevel s halo in "Light". Mostly outdated, but of historical interest.
The
selection of halos discussed is cautiously narrow.
3. Pernter J.M. and Exner F.M. / "Meteorologische
Optik." 2nd ed. Wilhelm Braum~ller, Vienna and Leipzig (1922). In German.
A meteorological optics classic. If we would have a science citation
index available throughout the last 150 years, this book would
probably still win the competition of most citations among all atmospheric
optics publications. It enjoyed several decades of no 1
position as a general met. optics source. Nowadays largely, almost
completely outdated. Yet a must-be-in-your-shelf book if the person
is interested to write historical data on halos, green flashes, coronas,
rainbows etc.
4. Wegener A. / Aus d. Arch. Seewarte (Deutsche
Seewarte, Hamburg): "Theorie der Haupthalos." Vol 43
(1925), No 2. Pp 32. In German.
Again more of a major publication than a book. When discussing the
anthelic arcs as well as when arguing about the continental
drift Wegener was more right than his opponents. Selection of halos
discussed quite narrow. Historically and mathematically interesting.
5. Meyer R. / "Die Haloerscheinungen." Probleme der Kosmischen Physik,
no XII. Hamburg, Henri Grand (1929). 8 . Pp viii+168. And see also:
Meyer R. / "Haloerscheinungen." (1925) Theor. Beitr.
met. Opt. Abh. Herder-Instituts zu Riga. Vol 1, no 5. In German.
Meyer fooled a row of scholars by making two different halo books
under exactly the same German title - he really ran out of imagination.
Much of the stuff in Meyer is outdated. Also considerable portions are
repeated more or less from Pernter & Exner. Relatively large selection
of halo forms discussed.
6. Humphreys W.J. / "Physics of the Air." 3rd Ed.
MacGraw, New York (1940).
I actively dislike the halo treatment in this source. Its far too
well quoted partly just because it just happened to appear as a first big
halo
source in English language within a long time interval.
For example the most rare halos are covered lousily, some of the
theoretical
presentations have been later proven quite crazy. The handling of
observational
side of theoretical effects is consistently neglected. He just presents
from ad hoc chosen pyramidal crystals a few effects that havent been shown
to exist in nature - not at his time, neither in ours.
7. Minnaert M. / "The nature of light and color in the
open air." Translated from Dutch original . Dover, New York (1954).
Wonderfully written. Central in atmospheric optics, but the guy is
no halo expert. The lists of rare halos present pure chaos. There is
another Dutch scholar who made much better... but who s single
missfortune was to write only in Dutch and in German...
...8. Visser S.W. / "Optische verschijnselen aan de hemel."
Kon. Ned. Met. Inst. Verspreide Opstellen 3.
Staatsdrukkerij, `s-Gravenhage (1957). See also: Visser S.W. /
"Die Haloerscheinungen." Handbuch der Geophysik, Band 8, Verlag
Borntr{eger Berlin, pp. 1027-1077. (1961). The latter much more
detailed on halos. A major author.
Two books by Visser are somewhat vastly outdated - regarding the views
on rare halos especially, but this man had courage and enthusiasm to
write
on all sorts of halo forms. He is still the uncrowned king of the
scientific
halo publications with more than 70 papers on halos. Most of them
presenting outdated stuff, but I sympatize this unfortunate old beard very
much.
9. Liljequist G.H. / Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition,
1949-52. Scientific Results, Vol II. Pt. 2. Special studies. A.
"Halo-phenomena and ice-crystals." Oslo, Norsk Polarinst.(1956).
The biggest among the observational halo report books (there
are many more). Like Weickmann (1948) who is not included
here, Liljequist was the pioneer on simultaneous ice crystal sampling
and halo observing. I met and interviewed him together with Marko
Riikonen one year ago in December 1994 at his home in Uppsala,
Sweden. He was 80 years old and jumping of enthusiasm on all kinds
of things. One of the most sympatical scientists I have ever met. He died
soon after our visit. The work is mainly of historical interest, but
partly still interesting stuff because the well made observations and
the ice crystal samples.
- Tricker R.A.R. / "Ice crystal haloes." Optical Society of
America, Washington D.C. (1979). See also: Tricker R.A.R. /
"Introduction to meteorological optics." American Elsevier,
New York (1970).
The first one of the two is not very well known. Both are visually
desappointments and the scientific material is not very good either.
Also the halo lists are quite short if compared to Pernter-Exner
or Visser. Still a relatively big non-antique source on halos.
- Greenler R.G. / "Rainbows, halos and glories." New York (1980).
Exceptionally great book on atmospheric optics generally. Wonderfully
written.
Visually the first good source (the first truely international color
photographs compilation of common and rare halos). Surprisingly much
of the rare halo stuff is nowadays outdated. The used simulation
method is nowadays outdated; gives unreliable intensity distributions
etc. At few points ignores old literature too much. This work made a
revolutionary impact on the field due to lot of things, i.e. by making
the
computer simulations well known (the author started them together
with his American co-authors in 1970 s). Recommended by a host of
people as a must in FAQ list and no wonder - it is a modern classic.
- Tape W. / "Atmospheric halos." Antarctic Research
Series vol 64. American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C. (1994).
The greatest halo book ever. Get this into your shelf. The list of halos
discussed is large, almost complete. Antarctican, Alaskan etc halo
photographs are mostly stunning. The computer simulations, photographs
and simultaneous ice crystal samples along with the thorough appendixes
on scientific issues make it an unmatched discussion on halos. The
critical
view of the Lowitz arcs (and effects associated with them) is outdated,
but predominantly due to displays that appeared after the book went into
printing.
INQUIRY
And the last issue. A challenge for you folks; Does anybody know e-mail
addressess of following authors; If you have answers, please address
it just to: marko.pekkola_at_helsinki.fi.
- Richard O. Norton (Oregon, USA), 2. Fred Schaaf (Millville, New
Jersey USA), 3. Stanley David Gedzelman (New York, USA) and 4. R.S.
Scorer ( London, Great Britain).
Best Regards, Marko
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