WEATHER AND RADIO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22215, 16 September 1935, Page 16

WEATHER AND RADIO

EXPERIMENTS IN SYDNEY IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES ASSISTANCE IN FORECASTS [IIIOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] SYDNEY, Sept. 2 Betlier knowledge of the causes of weatlior conditions and a greater ability to forecast accurately are possible as a result of discoveries made recently by tihc Electrical Engineering School at tho Sydney University, on behalf of tho Radio Research Board. Professor' J. P. Madsen, director of research at tho school, lately stated that a remarkably close connection had been founcl between the electrical condition of tho Heaviside layer and weather conditions on tho ground. Professor Madsen said that, in collaboration with Professor Bailey, of the Physics Department, a theory had been put forward recently to explain the i interference caused by tho overlapping of high-power, long-wave broadcasting stations. This condition, which was termed the "Luxembourg effect," had jroused groat interest in European scientific and broadcasting circles. Several predictions had been made and detailed investigation in Europe had strikingly confirmed them. The theory was now generally accepted. "One of the earliest results obtained by research at the school was a verification of Professor Appleton's famous theory that tho earth's magnetism profoundly affected radio waves while they were being reflected from the Heaviside layer," Professor Madsen continued. "Professor Appleton found that the waves in Englaud came down from tho Heaviside layer twisted like a corkscrew with a left-hand spiral. He predicted that experiments in the Southern Hemisphere would show that the waves would be similarly twisted, but with a right-hand spiral. Measurements made at Jervis Bay showed that his theory was correct." Professor Madsen added that work on hard at the school had led to the discovery that there appeared to be waves on tho surface of the Heaviside layer. This was in agreement with some very recent scientific work in the temperature distribution in underground cables the application ,of the eathodo ray tube to engineering problems, and numerous questions in the design of radio frequency circuits and measuring instruments. Conditions in the Heaviside layer and their effect on the fading of radio waves would be investigated in the near future.

The Heaviside layer, or reflecting regions, 60 miles and more up in the stratosphere, were responsible for all radio reception beyond distances of sibout 100 miles from a transmitting station, said Professor Madsen. Other investigations going on in the department were connected with Norway, which ishowed the existence of winds blowing at 300 miles an hour at those £;reat heights.