IN THE HIGHER ATMOSPHERE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10042, 9 January 1909, Page 6 (Supplement)

IN THE HIGHER ATMOSPHERE.

(By the Prince of Monaco.)

Meteorology is a science which is much less advanced than many others. xhis. is due to two principal causes. In the first place, it is only quite recently that, it has been the object of experimental research ; and, in* the second place, the field, of this research has been the latitudes of Europe and' North America, in the so-called temperate zone, where the conditions are those of transition from the simple conditions obtaining at" the Equator to the equally simple, but opposite conditions obtaining at the Poles/ The meteorology of Nortel em Europe, the most complicated and; difficult problem in the science, has been' attacked first, and the reason of this is obvious, because it was there that the means of attack were first furnished. - • , Meteorological observatories, at first, were confined to th& centres of population, but, further progress soon made clear the necessity of extending the researches into unpeopled and higher Btrata, with \the result that observatories were installed oil the tops bf maity nibuiltaiiis. In the last few years, the improvements effected in the manufacture of steel have made it possible to fly f kites at great heights, carrying self-registering instruments, and held' by a wire, as light ais it is stroll?. Now, the india-rubber industry renders it possible to send to altitudes hitherto inaccessible by any other means balloons also carrying iself-register-ing Meteorological instruments. The first, experimenters who used kites w&re Americans. Guided by Edy in 1891 and by Botch in 1894, their instruments attained a height of 13,000 feet. _ Shortly afterward the French Hermite and Bezlncon, in 1892, launched the first bal-lons-sonde (captive balloon) : a much more independent class of instrument, which very soon attained heights above the land up to 65,620 feet. Quite recently the scientific spirit of the . Germans, supported by the liberality of the Emperor William, has created at Lindenberg, in Persia, a magnificent establishment where meteorological researches in the higher regions of the atmosphere are pursued regularly with both systems. These researches are" necessarily restricted to the air over the land. There remained the atmosphere over the ocean, a much greater region, and its exploration appeared to be of paramount importance. It was Professor HSrg6sell, of Strasbufg, iil the year j.904, wfro first ; interested me in the subject, and I decided at biicS lb attack it. Itl the spring .of the same year I was able, after making-, some alterations in the sounding machine, of my Whip, the Princ/ssa Alice, to use it for sending, kites to a height 'of 15,000 feet in northern Regions of tlie trade winds between Portugal and the Canary Islaii<3s. ... In order .that the kite which carries the recording instruments —a combination of barometer, thermometer, and hygrometer, weighing 600 grains—shall ascend to any great height it is necessary to attach to the line or wire a series of kites at intervals varying from 1500 to 500 feet. Each of these, by adding its effort to that of the one which precedes it, contributes to the ascensional force of the system at the moment when the weight of the wire in the air would stop further upward movement. By successive it is possible to send a kite with instruments to a very great height, provided that no layers of calm are met with, or if they exist, that the speed of the ship is 6uch that the kite can be towed at a minimum speed of miles per hour. Owing to the difficulties attending the despatch of kites on board ship, and the complications which arise from the fact that the upper currents travel in directions which generally vary irregularly from one level to another, a height of 20,000 or 22,000 feet is the greatest thatcan be reached. In a recent experiment at Lindenberg, in which the kite reached a height of 19,500 feet, it was necessary to use 55,000 feet of cable, and the final strain on the wire was 187 pounds. The launching of a kite from a ship is always a delicate, operation, and one which demands experience on account of the vortices found in'the aerial wake of the ship : of which those visible in the aqueous wake are the image. Often when the apparatus has reached a height where it appears to bo out of danger it may be caught by one of these risky vortices and precipitated into the sea. In stormy weather such a catastrophe may occur even after the kite has risen to a height of several hundred- metres. When the Kites have reached the greatest altitude permitted by the circumstances, the paving out of the wire is stopped, and, either by increasing the 6pee- of the ship, or by heaving in the wire as quickly as possible, a little final augmentation of height ia obtained. A kite operation at a height of 3000 or 4000 metres la6ts almost the whole day, and' the 6hip ; which must- at times steam full speed in ordeT to enable the kites to pass through zones of light wind or of calm, may easily cover a distance of 50 or 60 miles during the operation. I have made use of these instruments in the investigation of the counter-trade of the northern hemisphere and with the following results: The kites sent to a height of 15,000 feet have not furnished any indication which permitted 1 Professor 'Hergesell to recognise the existence of countex-trades in the regions explored, although their existence has often been reported by observers. As to the observation of Hunl"6oldt of a south-west wind at the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe, it is to be explained in another manner. This wind is due to a purely local cause; but.it would not occur to anyone to pretend that the counter-trade does not exist. The masses of air drawn into the tropical Tegions by. the trade winds of both , hemispheres must regain the regions abandoned by them, but the path which they follow is still unexplored. After a season's work with kites in the Atlantic, I resolved to apply to the meteorological research of the atmosphere at great- altitudes above the ocean the system of ballons-sonde which had already been giving excellent results on the continents. Twd very light india-rubber ballons were inflated, one to a slightly greater extent than the other, with hydrogen, of which a supply was carried in 6teel cylinders. The less inflated balloon carried the registering instrument, enclosed; in a small bxsket, an instrument analagous to that used with the kites, but more complete, as well as a float suspended at the end of a line 50 metres long. The more inflated balloon was connected- with tlie other by a line also 50 metres in length. Its function was, first, to facilitate the ascent by rendering the necessary assistance to the other balloon and, afterward, to facilitate its descent with the registering instrument by quitting it at the altitude determined beforehand by the uegree of inflation- given, on which depends the height at which the balloon burst. Tho first balloon, now become a simple parachute, brought the instrument back toward the ej, above which it remained floating so soon as the float at the end of the Gtra-"- line touched the surface of the water, in Eiiis way, the basket containing the ins'r'Tipnt was kept clear of the waves, r'he balloon remained visible .at., n. diata-.T- of Bto 10 miles. During the ::.; ent- is was necessary to make obs:i"."tions as often as possible with the aei';-"t and the compass so ae to fix the altitude and azimuth of the balloons at different instants with a view to establishing, the route followed., through the air, and thus, to ofc ain the elements for ar-riving-.at a knowledge of the strength and direction of the aerial currents in the different layers traversed. It must be understood that the shit) wae following tho system-at fuJl spee-d, in order not to lose sight -of it, a result V,Tiich was obtained, ■ thanks not only to the excellent prismatic glasses used, "but also to tho keenness of sight of some of tie o! -vers. An operation of this kind was only in very clear weather, because *he- disappearance of the balloons behind a cloud would 1 have inade very doubtful th: • iscovery of the place where they fell. But this method presented various grave difficulties; first, the recovery of the bal- i loon if it had been sent to a great height, and, second, the exact fixation of the : point where the ascent of the balloon would be stopped by the bursting of the subsidiary- balloon. In fact, any. fau' tin i the india-rubber of which the balloon was j made might- advance or retard the time of 1 explosion. .We have been able to remedy 1 these difficulties. .The subsidiary balloon. 1 is now detached" from the system alto- I gether at the desired height by the action 1

of the electric current furnished by a : email dry cell on a spring, which takes ( effect the moment tha pen of the record- : ing barometer touches a conductor set- for i the desired altitude. * j But the bailons-sonde are not the only i apparatus which we have employed, along i with kites, for investigating the pheno- i mena of which the high atmosphere is the : 'Beat. In certain circumstances, for instance, when the "sky is covered .with cloud?, or if the vicinity of inhospitable land makes it unlikely that balloons ■would be recovered, we have used captive balloons, sent to moderate heights. A ballon-6onde was fixed to the end of the very light v/ire of the kites, and it had reached the greatest elevation which its ascensional force, diminished by the weight of the wire, permitted, a second balloon was allowed to slip up along the wire, which, when it arrived near the first, gave the system a fresh charge of ascensional force and permitted it to rise higher. In this way we sent a. group of three or four balloons. \ W© have also launched pilot balloons, •which sever all connection with those wso dispatch them. They rise to prodigious heights and disappear for ever. "lhey carry no instruments, but they furnish valuable, information regarding the direction arid the violence of the aerial currents. iii the. highest regions of the atmosphere. The following iis the .manner of their emnlovment: v The weather bei'ftg clear and otherwise favoral.le, three observers —forming a ■ triple alliance—land on the shore oi a continent or of an island. They \vith them a small balloon inflated to a diameter of not more than one meter, and a theodolite, the telescope of which is espa cially powerful. The theodolite permits the observer to follow the balloon without losing sight- of it, while his two assistants read and note, every half minute, the angles furnished. Our best results have been realised with pilot balloons. -These instruments which are small enough to be embraced by the arms of a man, have been followed with a special theodolite to the extraordinary altitude of 97,700 feet, or, at the very least, an altitude of 82,000 feet. Further, the one which attained this height was, at the moment of its disappearance, at a distance of miles from the observers. So remarkable a result is explained by the transparence of the atmosphere in the Arctic regions, a transparence which, Under other circumstances, permitted us .tb. follow distinctly, on the snqw of a glacier, at a distance of <:4 miies, the movements of a, party of four persons whom I had sent on a exploration in the interior of Spitzbergen. .. The information furnished by the pilot balloons, "which carry f no instrument because they are sacrificed, concerns questions of« capital importance! for< meteorology; the direction and the velocity of the upper curreht. Our pilot balloons have taught us that there exists in the Arctic regions, in the neighborhood of the 80th parallel, at & height of about 44,000 feet, certain winds of 132 miles per hour, a force for which we have no equivalent at the surface of the globe. Their direction was S. 69deg. W. If the principal states of the "world were willing to diminish a little the expense of international quarrels by submitting them to the jud.gment- of a tribunal less costly than that of -war, and. if they preserved more of their resources for the veritable interests of humanity, it would be possible, -with powerful means, very 'soon to ascertain the laws of meteorology, the key of which seems to be found in the higher atmospheric regions.