Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer known for his studies of the physics, chemistry, and biology of the oceans. He explained the equatorial countercurrents and helped develop the method of predicting surf and breakers. A unit of water flow in the oceans was named after him by the oceanographic research community: 1 sverdrup (Sv) is equal to the transport of 1 million cubic metres of water per second.

Sverdrup was in charge of the scientific work on the Maud Expedition to the Arctic from 1917 until 1925 and was a research associate at the Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C., from 1928 until 1939. He was also professor of oceanography at the University of California and director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif., from 1936 until 1948, when he became director of the North Polar Institute in Oslo.

Sverdrup wrote Oceanography for Meteorologists (1942) and was coauthor of The Oceans (1942) and of Breakers and Surf (1944).