WEATHER PROBLEM.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18623, 29 April 1932, Page 5

WEATHER PROBLEM.

UNIVERSAL POLAR YEAR. SCIENTIFIC STUDIES. CO-OPERATION OF NATIONS. The advanced stage has been reached in the plans for what is known as the “international polar year,” which is timed to start at midnight on August 1 this year and will last for precisely 12 months. The polar year of 1932-33 is the •second period to be so called n marks the exact jubilee of the first polar year of 1882-83—-and it may be defined as a year set apart for collective effort in the extension of knowledge of world-wide meterological and magnetic processes, with especial reference to the phenomena of the polar regions. As most civilised nations and —thus the majority of highly-organised nieteorological services—are in the Northern Hemisphere, whose geography moreover makes polar observations far less difficult than does that of the Southern Hemisphere, says the Manchester Guardian, it is inevitable that work will be concentrated on the north polar regions, only a few scattered centres of observation being maintained in the far south. Although the results of the first polar year, were both copious and important, the science of meteorology—in particular the study of weather forecasting—was too much in its infancy for more than a small fraction of what is now known to be the scope of possible research to be dealt with or even attempted, and it will be realised that the forthcoming polar year is none too long a period for the wide field of inquiries open to meteorological investigators.

Analysis of Statistics. Fortunately, meteorology Is a science depending to a large extent on the analysis of statistics —such as those of temperature, rainfall and wind direction —and it will thus be feasible for of the various research expeditions to devote a large proportion of their time to the collection of systematic records which can then be analysed at leisure over a period of years. In other words, the polar year itself is only the embryo from which a series of important discoveries is almost certain eventually to develop. As it is believed that the explanation of many fundamental problems of climatology is to be found in high latitudes alone, the essence of the scheme is the establishment of a network of observation stations in a ring round the North Pole. Complete details are not yet available, but it appears that Denmark, France and Holland will co-operate in maintaining a series of special stations in Greenland; Iceland will make 'systematic observations with the aid of the Carnegie Institute of Washington; Norway, Sweden and Finland will look after the West European sector, Russia will provide a large number of stations stretching from Novaya Zemlva to the River Lena, and the United States will sponsor stations in Alaska and at Fort Conger. Great Britain’s chief share is to co-operate with Canada In pursuing a comprehensive programme of research at Fort Rae, on the Marian Lake extension of the Great Slave Lake in Canada.

Tho British Base. As the base for the British expedition, Fort Rae, has two great advantages. It is the site o ( f the British station during the first polar year, so that its adoption for 1932-33 will permit the data obtained on the two occasions to be strictly comparable, thus/helping to enable any general climatic changes to be detected, and, as was not then known, it is almost in the zone of maximum frequency of aurora.

The second fact Is highly significant, for polar year researches are by no means confined to meteorology in the narrow sense, but also embrace the important phenomena of terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric electricity, both of which are thought to be closely connected with the appearance of aurora. It is indeed quite likely that the present unexplained formation of “anti-cyclones” and “depressions” is ultimately due to electrical conditions, so that a' clear understanding of these

conditions would make long-range forecasting scientifically possible. Atmospheric Electricity. The well-known effects of atmospheric electricity will also be investigated—with reference to their fundamental causes —as part of the polar vear programme and Professor E. V. AppletonT F.R.S., Wheatstonn, professor of Physics at the University of London, will lead a special expedition to Tromso for electrical research. The main British expedition to Fort •Rae will be led by Mr J. M. Stagg, a senior professional assistant of the Meteorological Office, and will, it is understood, consist of not more than six men. It is expected to leave England some time in May—-the exact date depending on the breaking up of ice in the Gerat Slave Lake and Slave River—and its detailed arrangement? have been worked out by the British National Committee for the Polar Year. Fort Rae will be one of the four or five stations in the Arctic chain at which special efforts will be made to penetrate the stratosphere by meteorograph balloons, for which purpose the balloons have to ascend to a height of six or seven miles.