380 MONTHLY WEA-R REVIEW. AUGUET, 1908
had text-books on meteorology, the others had to depend on
the ofice library and the text-books in physical geography.
Much drill and practical work was imposed on the class, especi-
ally in drawing daily isotherms and isobars, rainfall charts,
and annual temperature charts. The various instruments used
in the Weather Bureau were fully explained. Cloud types
were studied from photographs and from the tower of the
building on an especially favorable day. Flattering enthusi-
asm was shown by the class, and all expect to use their prac-
tical knowledge in school work. No compensation was re-
ceived, but the class gave a vote of thanks. The following is
a list of the lectures:
No. 1.-Outline of course with history ancl work of Weather
Bureau.
No. 2.-Exhibition and description of the meteorological
instruments in general use by the Weather Bureau.
No. 3.-Class work in drawing isotherms ani1 isobars.
No. 4.-Class work in drawing rainfall charts and annual
No. 5.-The weather map and forecasting.
No. 6.-Distinction between climate and weather.
No. 7.-Heat ancl how the air is warmed.
No. S.-Cyclones and anticyclones.
No. 9.-Rainfall ancl cloucls.
No. lO.-Opt,ical phenomena of the sky.
No. 11.-General review and quiz.
temperature charts.
THE METHOD ADOPTED IN CONSTRUCTING NORMALS.
Between July G and August 3, 1903, a number of memoranda
were submitted to the Chief of Bureau relative to the proper
method to be pursued in computing the daily normals of the
various meteorological elements. Four different systems were
described. The subject was referred to Prof. F. H. Bigelow,
and certain conclusions and recommendations were approved
by him and the Chief of Bureau as follows:
Before undertaking to form normal6 upon any of these s y s t e p (1, 2, nionths at least should be corrected
same shelter and observing syfitem; lg observations; (a) to a long wries
1873, to December 31, 1902.
The third syhtem, viz, taking the nieans Ly months, plotting these,
and drawing an annual curve and then interpolating along the twrve
the individual dates, 60 as to get the nvrnialr for those dates is adq
as the method for getting normals for use in computing daily dnpartn
On the other hand, the means of all tho oh-erved values for the halile
date such a s January 1, January 2, etc., will be computed as hitherto
and he111 for special htiidy but not for regular use. __~
FROM NEW YORK TO CAPE TOWN.
I n the minter of 1889-90 the Editor had the privilege of
making a tour around the tropical portions of the North and
South Atlantic oceans; much of his time was devoted to ob-
servations of the movements of winds and clouds and an at-
tempt to gain new light on various features of the circulation
of the atmosphere over these oceans. On the outward voyage
from New York, we touched a t Fayal, St. Vincent, Freetown,
Elmira, Loanila, and reached Cape Town in January, 1890;
returning thence we visited St. Helena, Ascension, Barbaclos,
and Bermuda, reaching New Pork on May 27, 1890. Some
account of this voyage and the meteorological work was
given in the Editor’s preliminary report of May, 1690, pub-
lished in the American Meteorological Journal, October, 1891.
This study was only a first feeble attack on this important
problem. The fundamental question that still remains open
is this: Is there an upper current moving steadily eastward or
westward abore any part of the equatorial portion of the
Atlantic ; to this problem anyone may contribute who sails
from New York to Cape Town or in general anyone who crosses
the equator at any latitude. It seems likely that there are both
periodical and irregular variations in the general circulation
due to the large influence of the continents, so that numerous
voyages or a long, systematic series of observations will be
needed in order to understand the subject. There is needed
not only the kite work proposed by Mr. Rotch (MONTHLY
WEATHER REVIEW, April, 1902), but a long series of careful ob-
servations during voyages in equatorial regions.
Travelers and navigators who provide themselves with
marine nephoscopes and cultivate continuous observations of
clouds and winds as they pass from the north to the south, or
vice versa, will inevitably add much t,o our knowledge. The
masters of all vessels, both steamers and sailers, can well afford
to encourage such work as this that concluces to make navi-
gatmion safer and quicker.
The voyage from New York to Cape Town or Mauritius is
most easily made on the freighters of the Union-Castle Line;
froin New Bedford to St. Helena and back one may take a New
Bed ford whaler. The TToyage from Vancouver or San Francisco
to New Zealand or Austqalia and the voyage from England or
Portugal to Brazil and Argentina as well as to Cape Town and
India or even the voyage from San Francisco to Valparaiso are
matters of every clay travel. Thus, i t woulcl seem that it should
not be difficult to find many opportunit8ies to secure continuous
series of clou~l obsesvat,ions or mericlional sections of the at-
mospheric currents in the North ancl South Temperate zones
and the intermediate equatorial regions.
A special interest in this class of work is stimulated by the
consideration t,hat the land hemisphere of the globe, having
London as its north pole, inclutles both the Eastern and West-
ern continents and the North ancl South Atlantic oceans,
leaving the Pacific and the Antarctic, or the great Southern
Ocean to inake up the aqueous hemisphere. The North and
South Atlaiitic are therefore comparatively small inclosed seas
and t,he circulation of the atmosphere oyer them is largely a
matter of nniiual interchange of air over land ancl ocean, plus
the influence of the great whirls that move eastward from the
North ancl South Pacific over the temperate portions of North
ancl South America, respectively.
‘
In connection with the above-mentioned study, we note the
recent publicat8ion by the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Com-
pany (8 and 10 Bridge street, New York), of a beautiful Atlas
of South Africa, illustrating the tracks of its steamers, the
history, geography, and climate of the South African states.
We know of no better publication as a source of information
on these points. The study of geography in our modern
schnols includes climatology and history as essential factors,
and both are well presented in this work, which is really more
conrenient than Gresmell’s Geography of Africa, south of the
Zembesi. Americans in general probably have no adequate
realization of the extent to which south Africa is filling up
with a European citizenship. The coast plateau, 50 miles or
less in width; the southern Karroo and the great Karroo, 250
miles wide and 2500 to 3500 elevation, and the northern Kar-
roo with the lofty range of the Dmkensberg (Sneeuwberg) up
to 11,000 feet elevation, form attractive locations for planta-
tions when once the proper steps have been taken to provide
for water and irrigation. The atmosphere of south Africa, or
the “Land of Sunshine,” is remarkably pure, clear, and in-
vigorating, apparently superior to that of the inountains of
North America or Europe, owing to the great mass of pure
ocean air that flows over it from southeast and southwest.
The dryness of the air under high temperatures is quite
agreeable and stimulates human activity, just as it does in
our own dry regions. Cape Town, at latitude 3-1’ south, has
a mean of niaxinia in January of 82’ and a mean of minima in
July of 46”; mean annual, 62’ F.; with which compare Wil-
mington ancl Charleston, a t the corresponding northern lati-
tudes on our Atlantic coast. Many of the climatic features
.
AUGUST, 1903. MONTHLY WEATHER FtEVD3W. 381
that we are familiar with in the arid regions of the United
States also occur in south Africa. The climate of the coaat of
Cape Colony is warm, moist, and equable; that of the midland
is colder and drier in winter and hotter in summer; the moun-
tain climate is drier still and more bracing, but with extremes
of heat by day and cold by night. I n the eastern portion of
south Africa hot winds are oc,casionall-y experienced during
the summer; they come from the northwest and blow as if
from a furnace; fortunately, they are not of long duration.
Like the hot winds of Kansas and Nebraska. these are un-
doubtedly descending and warmed by compression, like the
fohn of Switzerland and the sirocco of the Sahara.
The climate and agriculture of south Africa go hand in
hand, for the soil is intrinsically very fertile, and wonderful
results have been attained a t the Irene estate near Pretoria.
(See Letters from South Africa. Macmillan & Co., New York.)
The Editor can add his own testimony as to the wonderful
vineyards near Cape Town ancl along the coast districts, where
the average production per vine or per acre is greater than
in California.
The 22 double-page maps and the index make the Union-
Castle Atlas a most acc,eptable addition to our library of works
on climatology ancl geography. They mill also he most useful
to the students of the history of south Africa.
THE TEMPERATURE OF THE UPPER AIR AS OBSERVED
ON MOUNTAINS AND WITH KITE METEOROQRAPHS.
The Report for1902 of the British Association for the Acl-
vancement of Science, contains a short note on atmospheric
temperatures and currents observed by means of kites in
January and August, 1902, on the west coast of Scotland at
Crinan, about 25 miles south by west of Oban and 70 miles
southwest of the summit of Ben Nevis. Only X175 (ST5 dol-
lars) were available for the purchase of the steam minding en-
gine and other apparatus. The steam winder or reel was so
adjusted as to run rapidly when the tension on the stmeel kite
wire slackened, but slow up or stop or even reverse when the
tension increased above a certain limit of safety. The author
of the report and secretary of the committee, Mr. W. H. Dines,
preferred various English devices to the American system of
kites and apparatus. He says:
In acltlition to t.he well known Richard instruments which have been
ordered, it. seemed desirable to ohtain if possible, something cheaper, since the risk of losing the inst,rtiinent is not small. I alii experiment-
ing with a cheaper form. I also hope t,o obtain correct determinations
of the maximum height ancl tlie ternperat,ure at. that. height in the fol- lowing manner. If a glass tube of uniform bore, sealed a t the top, but
with the other end under water or quicksilver, were sPnt up with a kit,?,
it would, assuming constant temperat,ure, give t.lie iiiaxiinum height, for
the air in the tube, under t,he decreased pressure, woultl expand and
bubble out, and on the descent,, water would rise in the tUlJe, and the
height of the water or quicksilver woul(l give the niiiiimuiu pressure, and hence the maximurn height. This is assuming coiistitnt temperature.
But if an exactly similar tube were also nsed containing saturat,ed vapor
of alcohol, t,wo equations would he obtained, from wliidi the two 1111-
known quantities, temperature and height, can be det,ermineil. I lit ipe
to perfect this method, since there are many occasions on w~hicli i t kit,e and a couple of glass tubes might be riskeil when one would hesit,at,e to
send up instruments costing SW.
The apparatus above clescrihed is now in use every day when the wind
is suitable, but there seem t,o he very many days during t.he suniuier when a sufficieutly strong wind does not occur. A velocity of about, 15
miles per hour is necessary, or force 4 on the Beaufort scale; but the
upper limit at which t,he kites will fly has not yet heen tletermined.
The experiments detailed in this quotation seem a t first sight
to be in the wrong direction. The Marvin kites have often
broken loose and been recovered. Sometin~es the kite is slightly
damaged, but the meteorograph never. We believe that there
is no cause for anxiety as to the loss or injury of the expen-
sive recording apparatus. The substitution of any nrrange-
went for ‘r recording minimum pressures and corresponding
51-3
temperatures ” means the loss of any reliable determination of
the vertical gradients of temperature and their changes with
altitude which are precisely the data that are needed in study-
ing the problems that occur in modern meteorology. Mr.
Dines states that the location of the kite station at Crinan was
chosen because i t seemed likely to give information as to the
vertiaal temperature gradient over the great oceans, since the
prevailing westerly winds must make observations at Crinan
equivalent as a rule to those over the open sea. [Crinan seems
to be surrounded by land and not by open sea.] It was also
thought that some light would be thrown on the question as
to how far the t,eniperatures taken on x mountain summit (Ben
Neris) differ from those of the free air at the same level in the
surrounding districts. Up to August 20, GS flights had been
obtained, ani1 during these the lower winds mere distributed
as follows:
Land winds from NNW., N., E., SSE.. ............. 15
Ocean minds from NW., W., S., SE ............... 52
Blanks ........................................... 1
Total ..................................... 68
-_
The heights attained seem t,o be rather lower than those
reached iu America with the same length of line paid out, but
t,he mind velocities must be measured before we can compute
the relative eficiency of the kit,es. We quote some of Mr.
Dines’s figures as a guide to those who wish an estimate as to
the length of line needed in order to att,ain any desired alti-
tude :
6,400 10,:300
G , OI.0 io, 3i)o
Vertical altitude, feet. Length of line, feet.
4,760 10, 600
5. %IO 19. 200 I -
7, 250
H. 950
8.55V
8.371)
6.900
7,175
7,425
11, 450
12; 000
17, 300
16, CXUJ
13, 500
12. UlJU
13,000
18,000
21,350
The c,ommittee indorse Mr. Rotch’s idea as to the import-
ance of using a small steam vessel as a base station so as to
be independent of feeble winds ancl calms.
In addition to the above report, Mr. Dines has giren the
clisc.ussion of his results in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal
Meteorological Society. He has also published a general
statement in Nature for June 18, 1903, p. 151, from which we
quote the following:
The evhleuce oLtaine(1 from last suiiiiirer’s work is not suffiaknt to be
wnclusive, but so far it. goes it tends t,u show t,lrat as a del’ression
sp~”r”“.c~hes the tlecre t,liau it was befcnre. T \vas the case with every depression t.liat passed
while t,he eqieriments were in progress, ani1 it leads to the crmclusion
that the upper air in the neighborhood nf a cyc.loiie is relatively warm
r~nd t,hat tlie cyclones are uonrectional effects.
A further result of t,he Iobservatious f i h o ~s that the t,emperature of Ben
Nevis was in every instance below that of the free. air at. the same level
w u i e (;I1 iiiiles tu tlie southwest, often from 5O to 8” F. below. That the
two air temperatures should hare agreed was harilly eXpt?Cted, t.iut the
t-liffrrent:e was very Iirarked. an(l it, is desirable that the exlieriments
slrould be rqwated i n the same ltwality to confirm tlie result. The fact,
ho\vevrr. that the summit of tlie mountain is so oft,en wrapped in cloutla
~1 1 r n t.he sky is clear elsewhere, tends to show that. the snmmit niust be
un(luly cold. aut1 i t seeins likely t,hat the effect. is produi.eil by t,lie adia- batic cnoling o f t.he air as i t is forced til) the mountain slope. In fact,
th43 clctud level 011 a11 the mountains an11 hills in t.he neighborhood was al\rays I U U C .~ t~eltbw t,he point at w1iii;h the kites elltrred the clouds. It
is alsi) kuown f n r i i i the (lifferences in the bnroiiieter ciu Ben Nevis and the
val II es ~o i i i pu t erl from t h tr Fort \Vi 11 in in wadi ngs that the t em perat,ure
of t,lie intermrtliate lagers of the air is not truly represeut.ed by the mean derived from the suiuiiiit and sea-level t,eniperatures.’
nf teiiiperat,ure with elevation becomes less
1 This is a general rule for all high ani1 low stations, as was shown by It has R. Riihlmaun in 1871) and by C. A. Schott about the %me date.
been confirmed by many stmudies since that time.-C. A .