History of Observation and Research

Since the very beginning of sea travel, a careful observation of wind and sea state is important for the safety on board and for survival at sea. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century (in 1805), the English admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) introduced the wind scale named after him. Beaufort numbers still 

State and Evolution of the Baltic Sea, 1952-2005, edited by Rainer Feistel. Gunther Nausch. and Norbert Wasmund, Copyright 2008 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

Francis Beaufort, based on the amount of sail a fully rigged warship of this day could carry in 

This scale with 13 levels (between 0 and 12 Bft) is still used today to derive wind force from the qualitative appearance of the sea surface. In this process, corresponding wind speed intervals are allocated to the different wind strengths. 

---