SIX MILES ABOVE EARTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 17, 22 January 1919, Page 3

SIX MILES ABOVE EARTH

AN INTERESTING LECTURE

Speaking of the ascent to a height of 50,500 feet above the earth, reached by Captain Lang, an Australian, while flying in England ill an aeroplane. Lr. Griffith Taylor, of the Meteorological Office, who has done a good deal of flying himself, and is a lecturer at the Aviation School, said to a Melbourne Hospital reporter recently that though tins was indeed a remarkable flight it was not by any means the record heightattained by ipttn. Ton years ago an Italian in a balloon reached seven miles; but one of the weather instruments which are attached to balloons by meteorological observers, had reached the almost inciedible height of 20 miles.

It hud been discovered by sending up these instruments that up to about six miles above the earth the temperature gradually decreased, and from this height up it remained at a level. 'lbis was one of the chief discoveries of meteorology. Tho height reached by Captain Lang and his observer'was just on this border line. Hud they gone any higher the cold would not have been .more intense. Mount Everest just touched this border line, In regard to the air currents which would Le met with in the upper i.iv, Dr. Taylor said that the dominant surface winds extend to about 21 miles up, in tho tropics blowing towards the equator (trade winds), in ia'itudes such as England largely from the south-west. In Southern Australia wind currents are more variable. Depending on the passage of large' empty cyclones, they extend to about the same height. Above this layer, ill the tropica! regions, the winds blow from the equator in the opposite direction to the surface winds, yet in regions such as Britain they would be light westerly. , American research showed that there were great wind layers alternating in direction in heights, up to about 20 miles. The chief meteorological boundary lay about six miles up. Below this wa« a somewhat turbulent region of air currents; above was the cold, clear region of steady winds. If aeroplanes managed to defeat Lang’s record they will get into this region, known as the strato-sphere. An interesting fact about the air above Australia was that at about 4COO feet up westerly winds were almost permanent, especially round Kosciusko. This was part of the great return-trade current from the equator.

A remarkable feature of the flight of Captain Lang, said Dr. Taylor, was the fact that the engine was able to keep going, as the air being so rarefied very little oxygen was present, making ii hard to get a decent explosive mixture in the cylinders. The lack of oxygen explained the. reason why Mount Everest had never been ascendled.

Mr. Hunt, Government Meteorologist, who is extremely interested in aviation, said that when the war began investigations in Australia in the upper air had been suspended, but this must be resumed as soon as possible. Upper air investigation was going on in all the Allied countries but Australia. The United States were expending 100,000 dollars to give the army authorities aid to investigate the upper air in order to assist aviation. Mr Hunt said that Mr Bates, a New Zealander, had been in Australia representing his Government recently, wishing to collaborate in a scheme for mapping out the air between Australia and New Zealand for the aid of aviation. A definite scheme had been outlined, and they w>re waiting for the support of the Comonwealth. which was very slow in coming, Mr Hunt said that it wa« a national duty for Australia to supply charts of the upper air currents to other countries, as we would expect the same from them when we desired to fly round the world to London. This surveying _of the air above us was on ait equal footing with the surveying of Jhe ocean round our coasts.