THOM A S

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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.. 1943 Ayshire/UK - 17.4.1980 Edinburgh/UK

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Alexander (Alasdair) Strang Thom was an honors physics graduate of the University of Glasgow in 1964. He took his doctorate in meteorology at Edinburgh University in 1967, and thereafter was appointed lecturer in the Department. There followed an impressive list of publications and the award of the Richardson and the Buchan Prizes by the Royal Meteorological Society. Thom's book Essentials of meteorology written jointly with a colleague was reprinted in different languages. He had spent 1979 as a guest collaborator at the Institut de Mécanique of Université de Grenoble, a stay somewhat marred by a period of ill-health, during which he was grateful for the consideration shown to him by his French colleagues. Thom's untimely death was a major loss for the international community.

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Thom's research was internationally recognized in fields as diverse as fluid dynamics, micro-meteorology, hydrology, climate change and mountain weather. He was a stimulating and innovative colleague. He joined in frequent group discussions on the evaporative process and the transfer of momentum from atmosphere to plants. A brilliant theoretician, he analyzed the field observations made in and over forests. He produced a new hypothesis to explain the exchange processes and conceived a wind tunnel experiment to test his hypothesis. Thom's interest in hydrologic processes led to his appointment as an Associate Editor of the IAHS Bulletin. He was also on the Editorial Board of Boundary Layer Meteorology and was prior to his death further a Council member of the Royal Meteorological Society.

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_{Duncan, W.J., Thom, A.S., Young, A.D. (1970). Mechanics of fluids. Arnold: London. McCulloch, J.S.G. (1980). Alexander (Alasdair) Stang Thom. Hydrological Sciences 25(4): 461-462.}

_{McIntosh, D.H., Thom, A.S. (1972). Essentials of meteorology. Wykeham: London. McIntosh, D.H. (1981). A.S. Thom. Quarterly Journal Royal Meteorological Society 107: 474. Raupach, M.R., Thom, A.S. (1981). Turbulence in and above plant canopies. Annual Review Fluid Mechanics 13: 97-129.}

_{Thom, A.S. (1967). The exchange of momentum, mass and heat between an artificial leaf and the airflow in a wind tunnel. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 94: 44- 55.}

_{Thom, A.S. (1971). Momentum absorption by vegetation. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 97: 414-428.}