TASMAN AIR BASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23355, 25 May 1939, Page 17

TASMAN AIR BASE

METEOROLOGISTS' WORK INSTRUMENTS INSTALLED INFORMATION FOR PILOTS Further instruments to assist in the important task of weather forecasting for the transtasman air [service have been installed in the meteorological office at the headquarters building of Tasnian Empire Airways, Limited. By means of a series of instruments, one of which has still to be mounted in position, it will be possible to read from dials the direction" and velocity of the wind, the rainfall for a given period, the temperature of the air and the barometric pressure without leaving the office. Wind direction and a constant record of velocity are shown by the one instrument, an anemograph of modern type. The velocity is recorded by means of a pen, actuated by wind pressure, which leaves a track on a revolving drum covered with ruled paper. The direction is shown by a needle which duplicates on a dial the "movements of a wind-vane on the roof of the building. An extension from the rain gauge on the roof enables the rainfall to be read inside the office, and a thermograph records the air temperature., For determining the ceiling, or altitude, of the clouds, the meteorologists have a supply of small balloons. These arc filled with hydrogen and then released, their flight being watched through a theodolite. So far there is no installation similar to that at the Pan American Airways base next door for finding the cloud-level at night. The-American company has a powerful searchlight mounted vertically, which throws a glow on the clouds. The airport manager can, by taking an observation and referring to a scale, advise a pilot of the cloud-level, an important factor during night landings or take-olfs.