SAVANT’S QUEER QUEST.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 31 December 1925, Page 10

SAVANT’S QUEER QUEST.

FORETELLING THE WEATHER. .MONTHS IN ADVANCE. A MISSION TO AFRICA. The Smithsonian Institute has sent out a new scientific expedition in the belief that it can bring back from somewhere in the mountains of Africa or. Asia know-ledge that will enable farmers, aviators and navigators to foretell the weather weeks, months-and even years in advance. , . - Dr. Charles G. Abbott, director of. the institution’s observatory, has left New'. York aboard the liner Orbita for Mo-. roceo on the strange quest. Somewhere in Alorocco, South Africa or Baluchistan he will establish an observatory to study solar radiation in the development of the theory that weather conditions on the earth are directly traceable to daily variations in the sun’s heat. Belief is Old. The theory upon which the expedition is based is not new. It was originated at the end of the last century by Samuel P. Langley, who, with Dr. Ab- ** bott, began taking measurements of solar radiation in Washington in 1902. Since then the work has been going forward steadily. Observatories have, been established in Arizona-and in the nitrate deserts in the mountains of Chill;. Aided by clear atmospheric conditions in the high altitudes, results . have been obtained which the institution’s officials believe point to the practicability of the method. Now an observatory is to be established in the eastern hemisphere. As the result of experiments already made, scientists of the Smithsonian Institution are convinced that the quantity of heat sent out by the sun, increases or decreases as much as five per cent in ten days. Usually, however, the change is* said to be more gradual. Primary Cause Unknown. At present, those in touch, with, the experiment point out, weather bureaus base their forecasts of rain or shine, heat or cold, on temperatures and air. pressures existing at various places on. the earth’s surface. Dr. Abbott and his fellow scientist, however, believe that this method deals only with, effects, and the primary cause of. earthly weather is the sun, and that changes in weather are directly due to changes in the amount of heat given off by the sun. There is considerable opposition to this theory. Officials of the United States weather bureau recently declared that Dr. Abbott’s experiments had proved nothing, and that his instruments were not capable of discerning variations in- the solar heat. •To Erect Observatory. The weather bureau of Argentina, on the other hand, makes daily use in its forecast of the measurements made at the Smithsonian Observatory in Chile. That the theory has its backers is evidenced by the'fact that the National Geographical Society has donated 55,000 dollars to finance the expedition to Africa and Asia. Dr. Abbott will go to London, and thence to Morocco, to inspect the arid mountainous country of that region. From there he will go to what was formerly German South-west Africa, and finally to Baluchistan, north-jvest of India. On ;the site which he selects the observatory will he erected. It is expected that it will be opened early next spring. .