RADIO RESEARCH

Evening Post, Issue 66, 15 September 1936, Page 10

RADIO RESEARCH

APPROACH OF STORMS

TRACING BY STATIC

WORK IN AUSTRALIA

It would be desirable if New Zealand could co-operate in certain aspects of radio research'which are attracting I general attention today, Professor Laby, J F.R.S., a member of the Australian Radio Research Board, stated today, j At Auckland and Victoria University j Colleges, and Otago University such j research is being done, but those who are carrying it out are seriously hampered for lack of adequate resources. One of the branches of radio research I being investigated in Australia is related to meteorology and New Zealand's co-operation would be specially valuable both on account of the special experience and knowledge of the scientists in the New Zealand Meteorological Office and of her geographical position. I Dr. Kidson, said Professor Laby, has pointed out with respect to the weather of Australia that conditions are simpler than for many other parts of the world. That may explain why Australian radio-research workers have found certain phenomena simpler than they are in Europe. "It has been suggested that a few pence from each wireless licence fee should be assigned, to assist fundamental radio research," he continued. "I should like to urge the desirability of that being done. It would greatly help the University Colleges in , the very difficult task which they have with their slender resources of furthering research in physics. Australian experience shows that fundamental radio research leads to a highly-trained personnel and that some of these trained men go into industry, to the very great advantage of the industry. It is essential to Australia, and, I should think, to New Zealand in the dangerous world in which we live today to have specialists familiar by personal experience with all branches of wireless development. "As the Press has recently reported Australia is making every effort to strengthen her aviation. Regular air communication between New Zealand and Australia is .probably not. far off. tn other countries the development of air communications has required a very considerable extension and improvement of their meteorological services, and I feel sure there is no country of which this will be more true than Australia, i ■ ■ "The investigations of the Australian Radio Research Board have, been of the ionosphere and on atmospherics. lonosphere research has been begun here, but, as already stated, it is crippled for lack of adequate resources. At the forthcoming science congress which is to be held in Auckland next January, no doubt ionosphere research will receive much attention as leading workers from Australia and New Zealand are expected to be present. TRACING STORM APPROACH. "In view of that I wish to refer to the atmospheric investigations which have been made in Australia. 'Atmospherics' or static are emitted from lightning flashes. They are in some areas, and when thunderstorms are close to j a receiving set, a serious cause of inter--1 ference with satisfactory broadcast reception. Investigation has shown, however, that the study of atmospherics yields scientific results of considerable interest,',' said Professor Laby. "Mr. G. H. Munro, M.Sc, a former .research student of Professor Burbidge's at Auckland University, took an important and leading share in the Australian researches.

investigations, which were initiated by him, Dr. Huxley, and Mr. Higgs some seven years ago, have been made under my direction: After experience with Mr. Watson Watt, of the British Radio Research Board, Mr. Munro set up cathode ray directionfinders at Melbourne and Canberra. This beautiful instrument, the invention of ' Watson Watt and his colleagues, shows the direction from which an atmospheric comes and its intensity. Observations with a single instrument are sufficient to locate the position of the source of the atmospheric, that is, the position of the lightning flash and thunderstorm.in which it had its origin. Greater accuracy. is attained for distant sources if two or. three of these direction-finders are used. COVERING A VAST RANGE. "The ideal arrangement would possibly be three cathode^ray directionfinders at the corners of an equilateral triangle a thousand miles apart. Three such stations could keep under observation an area of* several million^ square miles and follow the movement of thunderstorms with certainty in that area. The cost of the stations for the very large area under observa-tion-would be very small compared with the cost of obtaining the same information by any other means. "The reason for this is that a lightning flash is in its: radiating power the equivalent of a high-power wireless station, and the cathode ray direc-tion-finder is a very sensitive instrument. Lightning flashes occurring in Central Africa (that is, in the region of. the Belgian Congo) are regularly observed at night at Melbourne and at Canberra. The value of the cathode ray direction-finder for ordinary direction finding (as at airports) appears to have been overlooked," Professor Laby added. "Using these methods, Mr. Boswell and Mr. Wark in October, 1934, began studying whether following the movement of atmospheric sources would enable the movement of 'cold fronts (which are all important in weather forecasting) to be' followed. Theninitial results were most encouraging, but those for the following year disappointing. It would be most valuable to continue these investigations by means of three cathode ray directionfinding stations.located at, say, Wellington or Auckland, Melbourne, and Brisbane. ' AIR RACE STORM. "The methods in question were in use when the Melbourne Centenary Air Race finished. Scott and Black, the winners of the racei reached Melbourne just before an extensive arid violent storm passed into the region over which they flew to Melbourne. The Dutch aviators Parmentier and MoU, in the 'Uiver,' were not so fortunate They were, eight or ten hours behind Scott and Black, and near Albiiry they flew into this storm. ;They flew to the east, which brought them af midnight over. :Mount Feathertop, in the Australian Alps. The.broadcasting stations failed at first because of the static to communicate with the 'Uiver.' Few more dangerous situations can exist for an aeroplane than to fly over mountains at night. in a thunderstorm. Communication was ultimately established with the aeroplane, which landed on an improvised landing ground at Albury. "Had there been any provision for doing so the pilots could easily have been, forewarned where the thunderstorm was and in what direction it was moving. On its next journey from Holland to the East this aeroplane was destroyed in Irak. There seem to be some doubts as to how it came to disaster, but It was attributed at the time to the effects of the violent vertical air currents in a night thunderstorm." Professor Lnby during his recent

visit to Europe and America placed the Australian investigations before Major Bureau, head of the French Meteorological Office, who himself. is a pioneer worker on, atmospherics, and Dr. Bjerknes, the. very experienced Norwegian meteorologist. FURTHER INVESTIGATION ADVOCATED. At the invitation. of the Royal Meteorological Society Professor Laby opened'a discussion before the society, and* Sir George Simpson, Mr. Watson Watt, and others took part. While Sir George Simpson questioned the value of these methods for weather forecasting in England, he and all the other meteorologists mentioned paid a tribute to the scientific value of tht» results already obtained and favoured further investigation. ■ Professor Laby, on inquiring of Dr. Kemble, of the United States Weather Bureau, and meteorologists of the PanAmerican Airways, did not learn of any details of research on atmospherics in relation to meteorology being in progress in the United States, though there were rather vague statements that some work has recently been begun there. , : Professor Laby, Mrs. Laby, and their two daughters are returning to Ausitralia by the Awatea this evening.