108 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW MARCH, 1928
METEOROLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR BRAZIL, FEBRUARY, 1928
By FEANCISCO DE SOUZA, Acting Director
[Directoris de Meteorologia, Ria da J8neirOl
Unusual activity characterized the movement of the
atmosphere over the southern and central parts of the country. Eight anticyclones entered the southern part of the continent. Some of these pressure systems prob-
ab1 dominated conditions over considerable areas and ha c9 rather perceptible gradients, but with their advance the gradients weakened abruptly. The depressions of
higher latitudes and that of the continent were very active, giving rise to a number of storms, mainly on the southern and middle coasts of Brazil. Rainfall was generally light in the northern and central regions with deficiencies of 2.60 and 3.10 inches, respec- tively. In the southern region, however, there was abundant precipitation, the average nion thly amount being 1.80 inches above the normal. In the State of Bahia and in the northeastern part of
the country the deficiency in rainfall was injurious to the sugar-cane crop and unfavorable for the planting of cotton, cereals,and vegetables. Cotton, coffee, sugar cane, tobacco,
cereals, and vegetables, still suffering from drought, mainly at points in the central region of the country, were benefited by occasional rains and have now improved in general con- dition. In the south and in the region of the Amazon the condition of some of these crops is good. At Rio Janeiro the greater part of the month was characterized by fine weather; there were about 10 days with unsettled weather and rain and on some of these thunderstorms and high winds occurred. The mean temperature and the mean minimum temperature were
1.1’ F. above the normal and the excess of the mean
maximum was greater, l.So. Temperatures above 9 5 O
were recorded in the suburbs. There were frequent heavy showers during the last decade. Cloudiness was considerably below normal; the total duration of sunshine was 48 hours above the average. Southerly winds with occasional high velocities prevailed; on the 4th, 23d, and 26th the maximum velocity ex- ceeded 45 miles per hour.-TransZ. W. W. R .
NOTES
DOCTOR DORNO RETIRES FROM THE DAVOS METE- OROLOGICAL-PHYSICAL OBSERVATORY
After 21 years’ activity in organizing and developing the Meteorological-Physical Observatory a t Davos, Switzerland, Dr. C. Dorno retired on April 1, 1938, a t
the age of 63. The following communication from Doctor Dorno is df-explanatory :
During the period 1907-1922, the observatory was equipped and maintained out of my personal funds. From 1922-1926, the expenses for carrying on the work were met by the Swiss Institute for Mountain Physiology and Tuberculosis Investigations the obeervatory remaining in my private possession. On Octok&r 1,
1926, the observatory was taken over by the above-named institute and Doctor Lindholm, chief meteorologist in the Swedish service and for many years assistant to Prof. K. AngstrBm, was granted leave of absence by his Government to engage in the work of the institution. I am leaving my life work cordident that my earnest and ener- getic successor, after a year and a half of collaboration and counsel with myself, will remain conscientiously devoted to the compre- hensive work of the obaervatory. Thanks are due for the interest and encouragement shown in foreign landa. Foremost among these are Sweden, which was the pioneer in solar investigations and now gives me an esteemed suc- cessor, and the United States, whose Weather Bureau, through its chief, Prof. C. F. Marvin, and Dr. H. H. Kmball of the division of solar radiation investigations, and also several universities, have maintained close connection with the Davos Observatory and have manifested a lively interest in its work since the close of the World War. There has been fine harmony in the relations and interchanges between the representatives of almost all civilized lands here convened and the modest little Hochgebirgsobservatorium-the first meteorological-physical observatory in long-continued opera- tion. It was this continuity of observations which brought results in the field of atmospheric optics through the perception and proof
that summer, utilized exclusively at other places, is the most
un avorabls season. 4he idea of an “applied meteorology,” originally applied by me to “medical meteorology” and later changed to ‘ physiological meteorology” (so as to include both the plant and animal king- doms) has been adopted and is now spreading throughout the world.
Lightning from clear sky.-On July 2 , 1927, Stanley
’
Lukens, a forest ranger, was
the Gold Peak lookout on the
While Lukens and his assistant were setting up the fire finder they simed the alidade at various prominent topographic features to check the orientation of the map. As they were nial&g one of these test observations toward a point southeast of Gold Peak both men saw a flash of lightning strike the ground almost on their line of alidade
sight, and about 15 miles from them. This flash was followed by four others within the next few minutes. The first strike started a forest fire, the others did not. The phenomenon was most peculiar because all of these strikes descended almost vertically, apparently out of a blue sky, the nearest clouds being about 15 and 25 miles, respectively, from the area struck. Both Luliens and the lookout, a Mr. Wertz, were greatly impressed by this condition because their general impres- sion was that a t that time, 2:30 p. m., the sky was prac- tically clear. A small thunderstorm had passed over Gold Peak between 7 :50 and 8: 15 a. m. that day, then the sky had cleared. Mr. Lukens remembers, however, that a t the time of these “bolts from the blue,” there were two small cumulo-nimbus clouds south and southwest,
30 to 40 miles from Gold Peak. These lightning bolts, all of which struck within a small area not over half a
mile in diameter, appeared to descend almost vertically, and they were not between the two clouds, but in a northeasterly direction and over 15 miles from them.
No thunder was heard from these flashes, and no further bolts were seen. About half an hour after these strikes the cloud which had been south of Gold Peak passed over the struck area and delivered sufEcient rain to extinguish the fire, which had been smoking appreciably. This cloud is reported by Mr. Lukens to have been about
1 to 1% miles long by one-half to three-quarters of a mile wide, and was of the cumulus type.-H. F. Gisborne. (Report from the Committee on Radiation on the Relation 6etween Atmospherics and Weather. ROY. Met ’1 SOC. Jour., 53627488: discussion, pp. S89-400, Oct.,1927.) ‘-The report deals with the results obtained by
48 observers listening to a broadcast talk and to which the time incidence of individual atmospherics can be referred.
Range of atmospherics.
1 Reprinted from Science Abstracts.
MABCH, 1928 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 109
The duration and intensity of the disturbances were noted. The data were tabulated to give (a) observations with complete simultaneity without adjustment, and (6 ) observations where one time unit allowance is allowed for the adjustment of the personal error. The place of origin of individual atmospherics was recorded and a “dis- turbance index” given, i. e., the relative number of atmospherics per unit time referred to 100 for the most disturbed evening. The weather in the region of the
atmospheric “fixes” was found from weather charts. In some cases atmospherics were traced as originating a t clearly defined cold fronts or regions of thunderstorm activity. It was concluded that (1) the effective range of reception of very many atmospherics heard on normal broadcast receivers exceeds 3,000 km. and reaches at least 7,000 km.; (2) atmospherics of range below 300 km. are not shown by any evidence; and (3) cold fronts are of great importance in the origination of atmospheric dis-
turbance. In the Discussion, A. G. Lee described esperi- men ts showing that atmospherics which disturb long- distance commercial reception are not of short-distance origin, seeing that the distribution in azimuth is not uniform.. J. A. Slee considered that for seagoing con-
ditions most of the atmospherics heard were not of very long range. G. C. Simpson suggested the upper air as a
source of atmospherics. R. Bureau supplied observations and diagrams to illustrate his view that atmospherics are a local consequence of instability. T. L. Eckersley
suggested that some of the differences between the committee’s results and those of Bureau might be due
to differences of wave-length. The Committee replied to the discussion.-R. S . R. Arctic Ice in 1927: The Annual Report by the Danish Meteorological Office on the state of the ice in Arctic Seas in 1927, has recently been published. In the Barents Sea the most noteworthy features were the con-
gestion of ice off the entrance to White Sea from March until May, and the open sea up to Fraz Josef Land in September. The west coast of Novaya Zemlya was clear in July, and the Kara Sea was almost clear in August and quite clear in September. Around Spitzbergen there was much less ice than usual, except in October and November, when a broad belt of pack lay off the west coast. Bear Island, however, was not clear of ice from the autumn of 1926 until the end of May. On the east coast of Greenland the belt of ice seems, on the whole, to have been wider than usual, but the coasts of Iceland were free throughout the year. In Davis Strait there was less ice than usual, and on the Newfoundland Banks the ice season was short and had ended entirely by August. In B a f i Bay and the channels of the Canadian Arctic
Archipelago, ice was scarcer than in most years. Davis Strait was almost clear in July, but Wrangel Island was not approachable until August. The report is furnished with the usual ice distribution charts for the spring and summer months. [Reprinted from Nature, London, April 14, 1928.1
March weather in the United States 50 years ago.-The weather of March, 1878, was noteworthy in a t least two respects; first, atmospheric pressure was exceptionally low and temperature unusually high in the Missouri Valley and, second, the month, as a whole, was one of the
warmest of that name ever experienced. A Missouri River steamboa t passed Leavenworth, Kans., bound for Montana, on the 37th of March, arrived a t Lower Brule Agency in the present State of South Dakota, on April
1, Fort Lincoln on the 9th, and Bismarck, N. Dak.,
on the 9th. Leaving that point on the 12th the steamer arrived a t Fort Benton-the headwaters of navigation on the Missouri-on April 30, thus making the earliest trip ever accomplished, due to t’he open condition of the river
and the freedom from ice.-A. J . E.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
C. FITZHUQH TALMAN, in Charge of Library
RECENT ADDITIONS
The following have been selected from among the titles of books recently received as representing those most likely to be useful to Weather Bureau officials in their meteorological work and studies :
Austin, L. W.. & Wymore, I. J. On the influence of solar activity on radio transmission. p. 166-173. figs. 23 cm. (Repr.: Proc. Inst. radio engin., Feb., 1928.)
Weather, an introduction to climatology. London. [1927.] 79p. fins. 164 cm.
Brooks, C. E. P.
Burton, C; 0. -
Cuba. Sec. de obras publicas.
Recording wind velocity. Indianapolis. [1928.] v. p. illus. plates. 31 cm. [In part typewritten and manifolded.]
Memoria de 10s trabajos efectuados con motivo del ultimo ciclon que azoto la isla el 20 de Octubre de 1926. n. p. 1927. xi, 154 p. plats (part fold.). 264 cm.
Instructions to observers a t climatological stations at health resorts. London. 1927. 7 p. 24) cm. (Met’l observ. handbook (M. 0. 191) Suppl. no. 4.)
Meteorologie aus dem Gebiete der See- und Kiistenluftfahrt. Berlin. n. d. Heft 1. (Aufsiitse und Mitteil. aus den “Annalen der Hydrog. und marit. Met., 1927. 11. Halbj.)
Die tiigliche Periode der H6henstrahlun p. 92-104. figs. (Sitzungsb. preuss. L a d . d. Wissensch.
P? I 1927.)
Great Britain. Meteorological ofice.
Hamburg. Dentsche Seewarte.
Kolhkster, Werner, & Salis, Gubert von.
25) cm.
Montpelier, Vt. Flood, November 3 and 4,1927. [Montpelier. ~1928.1 unp. illus. 14cm.
Naegler, Wilh. Die strengen Wint,er i n Leipzig von 1829 bis 1926. [Leipzig. 1926.1 p. 271-286. 24i cm. [Berichte iiber die Verh. der sachs. Akad. der Wissensch. zu Leipzig math.-phys. Kl. Bd. 27. 1926.1 Petersen, Helge.
Puig, Ignacio.
Robertson, C. L.
Rouch, J.
Climate of Greenland. p. 257-276. figs. 253cm. (Repr.: Greenland. v. 1.)
El Observatorio del Ebro, idea general sobre el mismo. Tor- tosa. [1927.] viii, 188 p. illus. 244 cm.
Variability of Rhodesian rainfall. p. 102-109. fig. 24 cm. (So. Afr. journ. sci. v. 24, Dec., 1927.)
Les applications de la mBt6orologie pendant la guerre. p. 128-134. 274 cm. (L’ArmBe d’Afrique. Alger. no. 34 (40 ann6e) avrill927.)
Klima der Union der Sozialistischen Sowjet-Republiken. Leningrad. 1926. xii, 128 p. 35 cm. Teil 1. Lief. 1.
Atlas. Teil 1. Die Lufttemperatur. Lief. 1. Monatte- mittel der Lufttemperatur im Europaischen Teil der
U. S.tS. R. von Eugenie Rubenstein. Leningrad. 1927. 45 p.$53 cm. [Author, title and text in Russian and German.] Shaw, William Napier. Comparative meteorology ... Cambridge. 1928. xxxix, 445 p. illus. 27 cm. [Manual of meteorology, v. 2.1 Stlirmer, Carl. Modern Norwegian researches on !the aurora borealis. p. 139-147. fig. plates. 30 cm. Werth, E. Klima- und Vegetations-Gliederung in Deutschland. Berlin. 1927. 40 p. figs. plates. map. in pocket. 24 cm. (Mitt. aus der Biologischen Reischsanstdt ftir Land- und Foretwirtechaft. Heft 33, D a . 1927.)
Russia. Central geophysical observatory.
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