WEATHER IN THE SKY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19405, 13 August 1926, Page 12

WEATHER IN THE SKY.

WINDS OF TERRIFIC FORCE. TESTS TO OBTAIN VELOCITY; USE OF SMALL BALLOONS, [by telegraph.—own correspondent.] CHRISTCHUROH, Thursday. The sailing of small ballons into the sky is usually associated with the amusements of children, but Mr. H. F. Skey, director of the observatory, and his assistant, Mr. H. F. ,Baird, have of late been sending quite a number of balloons skyward and the results promise to be of considerable value scientifically. v When the observatory was visited by a reporter to-day Mr. Skey explained the methods followed in the releasing of these ''pilot balloons.'* They are used to detect the direction of winds and their velocity at different levels. In Christchurch the movements have been followed when the balloon has been as high as 5.2 miles above the earth, while on another occasion a balloon was -kept under observation when three miles up and fifteen miles from the point where the theodolyte was stationed. In this case, Mr. Skov said, the balloon had attained a velocity of 50 miles an hour. * " In one case recorded at Home," said Mr. Skey, " a balloon released in England was "picked up at- Leipzig, in Ger many, only four hours later, having travelled 500 miles in that time, so you can see how these winds must affect aeroplanes when they are 'high in the air.'' The work which Mr. Skey is carrying out at the observatory in his spare time is similar to that performed daily in weather bureaux in the United States. The balloons are inflated with hydrogen and after being released are kept under observation until they either disappear from sight completely, burst, or become hidden m haze. A special type of theodolyte is used to enable the direction and altitude of the little balloon to, be deter mined and its progress is recorded at, minute intervals. From these observations the course of the balloon is graphed Out and the deductions are made. ! ".The experiments prove," said Mr.' Skey, " that the direction of the wind .on the' earth's surface is no indication of what it may be higher up and it is , a reasonable supposition that the weather depends very largely upon the wind blowing at an altitude of 8000 to 9000 feet. That being so, an observatory at the surface of tile earth is not so useful as : it would be 8000 ft. up. Of course wo can't have that, but with these balloons we may be able to assist our observations of the weather considerably in time to come." '