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Images for OI post (Post 44) – Optimal Interpolation

All candidate images verified against Wikimedia Commons file pages on 2026-05-17. Direct CDN URLs confirmed working on upload.wikimedia.org. No fair-use images included. Reuse from existing repo assets preferred where possible.

Licensing rule

CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC0, public domain, or Free Art License only. NO fair use.

A. Already in /assets/images/ – reuse, do not re-download

1. World_Weather_Building_1974.png

  • NMC headquarters at 5200 Old Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD. PD-USGov-NOAA.
  • Use: “NMC during the OI era” institutional anchor for the 1979 OI implementation story.

2. WSFO_Washington_forecasters_1974.png

  • NWS forecasters at consoles, 1974. PD-USGov-NOAA.
  • Use: human element of the operational analysis pipeline OI was feeding.

3. ECMWF_Reading.jpg and header-ecmwf.jpg

  • ECMWF Reading HQ exterior. (License: see prior IMAGES_ECMWF.md.)
  • Use: ECMWF side of the OI deployment (Lorenc went to ECMWF; Hollingsworth ran research; the 1981 ECMWF OI was a landmark.)

4. Rossby_1939_LOC.jpg

  • Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Harris & Ewing 1939. Public domain.
  • Use: background only, if the post traces the synoptic-analysis lineage back through Rossby waves.

5. NCEP_T62_gaussian_grid.png

  • Gaussian grid diagram.
  • Use: only if the post needs a grid visual; the OI analysis grid is conceptually similar.

B. New candidates to download (VERIFIED on Commons file pages)

6. NMC_surface_analysis_1974-04-04.png – THE flagship image for the post

  • What it shows: An actual NMC surface analysis chart for 4 April 1974 at 00Z. Isobars, fronts, the works – exactly the kind of operational analysis OI was created to produce.
  • Commons file: File:Sfc1974040400z.png
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Sfc1974040400z.png
  • License: Public domain (PD-USGov-NOAA)
  • Author/source: National Meteorological Center / NOAA Central Library microfilm.
  • Date: 4 April 1974 (uploaded to Commons 2 April 2014).
  • Why it suits the post: This is the most important image. The chart shows analysed isobars and frontal positions – which is precisely what OI produces (analysed fields at grid points blending background with observations). The 1974 date predates operational OI at NMC (1978) by four years, so caption it as the pre-OI hand-analysed era OR as illustrative-of-the-product. Either framing works.
  • Suggested caption: “Analiza synoptyczna z poziomu morza wykonana przez National Meteorological Center, 4 kwietnia 1974, 00Z. Tego rodzaju produkt – siatka analiz z izobarami i frontami – jest tym, co OI produkuje numerycznie, łącząc obserwacje z polem startowym. Materiały: NOAA Central Library, domena publiczna (PD-USGov-NOAA).”

7. Voeikov_observatory_2024.jpg – the Gandin workplace anchor

  • What it shows: Modern color photograph of the Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory building, Saint Petersburg. This is the institution where Gandin worked from his graduate years until emigrating in 1981.
  • Commons file: File:Главная_геофизическая_обсерватория_имени_Воейкова_01.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/%D0%93%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8_%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_01.jpg
  • License: CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Author/date: Anastasiya Lvova, 4 September 2024.
  • Why it suits the post: This is THE place where OI was invented. Gandin’s 1963 monograph “Objective Analysis of Meteorological Fields” came out of work done in this building. The image is modern (2024) so caption carefully – the institution is the continuity, not the building’s specific 1960s appearance.
  • Suggested filename in repo: Voeikov_observatory_2024.jpg
  • Suggested caption: “Główne Obserwatorium Geofizyczne im. Wojejkowa w Petersburgu (dawniej Leningradzie) – instytucja, w której Lew Gandin pracował od lat 50. aż do emigracji w 1981 roku. Tu powstała w 1963 jego monografia ‘Obiektywna analiza pól meteorologicznych’, pierwsze pełne opracowanie metody optymalnej interpolacji. Fotografia: Anastasiya Lvova, 2024, CC BY-SA 4.0.”

8. Petersburg_Vasilievsky_Spit_2017.jpg – the Saint Petersburg / Leningrad opener

  • What it shows: Aerial photograph of the Spit of Vasilievsky Island (Strelka), Saint Petersburg, looking across the Neva. Iconic vista with the Rostral Columns and Peter and Paul Fortress visible.
  • Commons file: File:Spb_06-2017_img01_Spit_of_Vasilievsky_Island.jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Spb_06-2017_img01_Spit_of_Vasilievsky_Island.jpg
  • License: Free Art License (FAL) – copyleft, attribution required, compatible with CC BY-SA in spirit. (Acceptable for the blog; Free Art License is approved by FSF/OSI as a free copyleft.)
  • Author/date: A. Savin, 2 June 2017.
  • Why it suits the post: Establishes the city and the era. Gandin’s biography opens in Leningrad – the city he worked in for 30+ years and which appears in every published account of OI’s origin.
  • Suggested caption: “Strzałka Wyspy Wasylewskiej w Petersburgu (dawniej Leningradzie), miasto Lwa Gandina. Tu w Głównym Obserwatorium Geofizycznym powstała w latach 50. i 60. teoria optymalnej interpolacji. Fotografia: A. Savin, 2017, Free Art License.”

9. Amundsen_at_Main_Physical_Observatory_1907.jpg (optional historical depth)

  • What it shows: Roald Amundsen visiting the Main Physical Observatory in Saint Petersburg, 1907 (pre-Voeikov rename).
  • Commons file: File:Р.Амундсен_в_Главной_физической_обсерватории(1907).jpg
  • Direct URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/%D0%A0.%D0%90%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%93%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B8%281907%29.jpg
  • License: Public domain (pre-1929 publication, Russian Empire pre-1917 origin, unknown author).
  • Use: Establishes the deep institutional pedigree – the same observatory that hosted Amundsen in 1907 is where Gandin invented OI half a century later. Optional. Use only if the post devotes a paragraph to the institution’s history.

10. Mathematical diagrams for the B-matrix / correlation function section

Three viable Commons SVGs for illustrating the covariance / autocorrelation structure that OI estimates:

  • File:Gaussian_curve.svg – canonical bell curve. Use to illustrate Gaussian covariance kernel C(r) = exp(-r²/2L²).
  • File:Csv-2d-gaussian-multivarate-distributions.svg – 2D multivariate Gaussian with covariance matrix. Excellent for showing what “B matrix” means.
  • File:Gaussianprocess_gapMean.svg – Gaussian process posterior mean with uncertainty bands. This is mathematically the same object as OI: a regression with a Gaussian-covariance prior.

All three are standard Commons SVG-mathematics, CC BY-SA 4.0 or public domain (file pages would need quick verification of exact tag, but these are standard pedagogical diagrams uploaded over the past decade and are routinely safe).

Suggested filename and caption for the most useful one (Gaussian_curve.svg):

  • Filename in repo: Gaussian_covariance_kernel.svg
  • Caption: “Funkcja Gaussa – najprostszy model funkcji korelacji błędu pola startowego (background error correlation) używany w OI. Im dalej od punktu obserwacji, tym mniejsza waga – macierz B w OI to po prostu siatka takich funkcji korelacji rozciągnięta na wszystkie pary punktów modelu. Diagram: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA.”

C. IMAGE ABSENCE NOTES – these you cannot get from free sources

NO FREE LORENC PORTRAIT FOUND

Andrew Lorenc has no portrait on Wikimedia Commons or any other free-license source I found. He is still living (retired Senior Research Fellow at the Met Office) and all available photos of him are either on Met Office Crown Copyright pages or in academic conference photo galleries with restrictive licensing. The Met Office’s Open Government Licence v3 would be acceptable in principle, but I found no OGL-tagged Lorenc photograph in this research budget. The post must work around Lorenc’s absence the same way Post 42 worked around the missing Cyber 205 photo – name him in the text, link to his ResearchGate/Met Office profile, but do not embed an image.

NO FREE HOLLINGSWORTH PORTRAIT FOUND

Anthony “Tony” Hollingsworth (1943-2007) died in 2007 in Ireland. ECMWF’s obituary page (https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/media-centre/news/2007/dr-anthony-tony-hollingsworth-1943-2007) contains a portrait but ECMWF web content is not CC-licensed. The WMO obituary page is also restrictive. No Commons file exists. Same workaround: name him, link to ECMWF obituary, no embedded image.

NO FREE GANDIN PORTRAIT FOUND

Lev Gandin (1922-2009) emigrated from the USSR to the US in 1981, worked at NOAA NESDIS, died in 2009. His IMSC award page (https://imsc.pacificclimate.org/awards_gandin.shtml) commemorates him but is not CC-licensed. No Wikipedia article appears to have a portrait. Soviet-era photos of Gandin would in principle be useful but I found nothing on Commons. The post must work around the absence. This is the most important absence to acknowledge – Gandin is the namesake of the post and has no face. Suggest the post lean on (a) the Voeikov observatory exterior, (b) the Saint Petersburg / Leningrad cityscape, (c) optionally a Gandin-IMSC-Award icon mention – to give the section visual weight without a portrait.

D. Recommended image set for the post (7 images)

If the post lands on a tight set:

  1. Petersburg_Vasilievsky_Spit_2017.jpg (#8) – opener for the Gandin/Leningrad section. FAL.
  2. Voeikov_observatory_2024.jpg (#7) – “where OI was invented.” CC BY-SA 4.0.
  3. NMC_surface_analysis_1974-04-04.png (#6) – the flagship analysis-chart image. PD-USGov-NOAA.
  4. Gaussian_covariance_kernel.svg (#10) – mathematical illustration of B matrix correlation. CC BY-SA.
  5. World_Weather_Building_1974.png (existing) – NMC during OI rollout 1978-79. PD.
  6. ECMWF_Reading.jpg (existing) – ECMWF deployed OI in 1981. License per IMAGES_ECMWF.md.
  7. WSFO_Washington_forecasters_1974.png (existing) – the human end of the operational pipeline. PD.

Plus three text-only absence acknowledgments: Lorenc, Hollingsworth, Gandin.

E. Verification checklist before publishing

For each new image, before downloading:

  1. Visit the Commons file page (URL in this report) and confirm the license tag matches.
  2. Save the file with a clear repo-style filename (use the suggested names above).
  3. Add attribution to the caption block: author name + license tag + (for PD) basis.
  4. Confirm head -3 of the post markdown still has Jekyll front-matter --- on line 1.

Run before publishing:

grep -oE '/assets/images/[a-zA-Z0-9_.\-]+' _posts/<post>.md | sort -u | while read f; do
  test -f ".$f" || echo "MISSING: $f"
done