468 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. SEpTlmltBER, 1933
according to the ofice which organizes the issue, and
w i l l be desi ed to meet the different needs of the various services. %s y p o s a l , which wns accepted by the conference, mar s a great advance in international cooperation in all parts of the world. The conference
also recorded its ap reciation of the work performed on board the Jucpuea 8urtim. This is a French shi which has made experiments during voyages between imerica and Europe of collecting meteorologicnl information by wireless telegraphy from ships and shore, preparing a meteorological chart of the Atlantic, and then broad- casting forecasts for the use of shi s. The Jucques Cartier
French Meteorological Office, who is assisted by a clerk lent by that office. Further developments along these linea are to be expected. The power of the mothod of correlation when applied to meteorologcal data is now generally reco
Walker, who employs this method in his forecasts of the Indian monsoon, is well known. Such work, hoa- ever, fails unless homogeneous data extendin over a
lution was ado ted expressing the opinion that the publication of yong and homogeneous data from a number of stations at distances of about 500 or 1,000
kilometers from one another would be of great value. Not content with ex reseing this opinion, the conference asked Dr. G. T. d l k e r to supervise the working of
the resolution so far as Asia is concerned, and similarly Prof. F. M. Exner for Europe, Mr. H. H. Clayton for
America, and Dr. G. C. Simpson for Africa, Australia, and the ocean generally. The conference was unable to solve the problem sub- mitted to it by the commission for the upper air re ard- ing the international ublication of upper-air %ata. That these data shouldte collected and published in a
uniform manner is highly desirable, but all the efforts of Sir Napier Shaw, the resident of the commission, to find a possible way of foinf so have been unavailing. Such an undertaking woul be exponsive and woulcl
require financial aid from all countries concerned. In present circumstances it is not surprising t-hat such aid
is not forthcoming, and all the conference could do was to make suggestions for meeting temporarily the press- ing need for tho rapid circulation of results obtained by means of sounding balloons. The data obtained by the use of ai lanes and pilot balloons are too numerous to be handle ?I internationally at present, and the con- femnce therefore recommended thnt each country should publish its own data. Many resolutions dealing with agricultural nieteor- ology, terrestrial magnetism, atmos heric electricity,
but space does not allow of further details here. One of the most important questions dealt with by
the conference was its relationship to the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. The great growth of the oficial weather services of all civilized countries has provided so many questions of administration and o anization for international consideration, that this si T e of the activities of the International Meteorological Organization has swamped the scientific side. At recent meetings of the conference and committee there has been no time for scientific discussion, and therefor0 little to attract the members of the organization other than those connected with the great official meteoro- logical services. A resolution was therefore considered
carries an officer of the mercanti P e marine trained in the
mzed by meteorologsts. The success of Dr. G. 4-
long eriod are available. Professor Exner, o f T7ienna, broug R t this matter before the conference, and a reso-
solar radiation, and the upper atmosp K ere were adopted
to alter the rules in such a way as to limit membership of the conference to directors of meteorological services. There was practically no opposition, find the rule govern- inv the membcrship of the conference now reads as
The officers of the committee shall invite to the conference all heads of RQeaux of stations in each country which are official (d6tat) and independent of one another. I t WIIS generally understood that this would remove
froni the work of the organization all questions of ure science, and that the science of meteorolo woul 1 be considered onlg in so far as it is applied to 7 t e needs of the meteorological services. Practically, this is no change in the work of the organization, but it makes a clear distinction between the sphere of the International Union of Geodesy and Geoph sics and tho sphere of the Inter- national Meteorologicn Q Orgnnizntion. There should now be no mnterid 01-erlap between the work of the union, which considers meteorology from the scientific side , and the work of the organization, which studies only
those questions which nre of interest to all national meteorological services and which necessitate the utiliza- tion of their own network of stations. At the last meetin of the conference, when the new international meteor0 7 ogical conunittee had been elected
EJioW~ :
an honor
appointed Grofessor van Everdin en resident, and
was left r m m t fDor the present. The general feeling a t the end of the meetings, fre- quently expressed, was that good work had been done and much progress made. Good feeling between mem- bers from all countries was very marked throughout.
Doctor Hesselbera secretary. The o i-i? ce o rice president
THE EAST-WEST OSCILLATION OF THE ICELANDIC MINIMUM.
By C. E. P. BROOKB, M. Sc.
(Alwtmcted from Jfftmrological A1za#o:inc, 171*, No. EX?, September, 1923.1
The author lixs made an examination of 528 ressure charts especially drawn for the study and bases b s con- clusions upon the evidence of these charts. The charts were esaniined for cases of an extreme westerly position of the Icelandic minimum, say over Davis Strait and an extreme easterly position in which the minimum was centered over or to the east of Iceland. A scale of marking was adopted to show the position of the mmimuni for each month. As the work developed the month as a
time unit was discarded in favor of overlapping means of 4 months. Plotting the scale values thus obtained the author found evidence of 43 complete oscillations with an average length of 12.1 months. The number of intervals between successive easterly and successive
SEPTEXBER, 1938. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 469
westerly maxima were 86 and these were distributed as influence of the wind upon the flow of the warm Gulf
follows: Stream waters on the one hand and the cold waters of
There is in the above tabulation a well-marked crest at 11 to 12 months and a secondary crest at 15 to 17
months. The author believes the minimum a t 14 months ma have been accidental. l f t e r eliminating the annual variation, a tendency for easterly or westerly mcsima to recur at the same season in successive years is found. Thus from 1S73 to
1883 the chief easterly maxima fell mainly between August and December and the westerly masima be- tween January and April and the same applies to the years 1889-1896, although the cycle in those years WRS
not well pronounced. On the other hand, easterly maxima generally occurred in the early months and the westerly maxima in the later months from 1554 to 18SS,
1597 to 1902, and 1910 to 1916.
Thus there seems to have been A more or less regular recurrence of the same phase of the cycle at about the same time in successive years, alternating with almost corn lete reversals. T i e author suggests some form of seasonal control to account for this. Earlier investigators of the subject, Meinardus * and Peterseqa developed the hypothesis of a  self-regulating mechanism whch depends for it,s operation upon the
~~ ~~ ~
I Mehardus. W.: Der Zussmmenhan des Winterk!imur im bfittel und Nordwest E m p ~ mlt dem GolM.rijm. zs. Qw. %ak#m.ie. Berhn 1-4 p. 95.
* Petersen, J.: Unperiodische Temperatumhwmkun~ Im Gollstriim und deren Beziehung zu der LultdrucLvertrlung. Ann. fI#drog., Berlin, 174*, 1910, p. 397.
the Labrador Current on the other. The time relation is too indefinite and the length of the period required to COM lete the cycle too variable for use in forecasting.-A. i? H.
ON THE FORMATION OF LOCAL DEPRESSIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.
By E. G. MAIUOLOPOULOS.
[Abstrcletcd from Complta Rcndua, (Psrls Acad.), October 1, 1823, pp. 597-600.1
BI BLIOQRAPHY.
RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE WEATHER BUREAU LIBRARY.
C. FITZHUGH TALMAN, Meteorologist in Charge of Library.
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 meteorogical work and studies:
Aitken R.D. Ekect of slope expoaure upon the climata and vegetation of a hill near Maritzbu : a preliminary investigation. 207-3317. fig. 24) cm. &c: South African journ. EL<. v. 19,%ec., l(J.22.)
Sur un cas particulier dorages par vent de sud dans le sud de la France (29-30 octobre. 1928.) Etude de m6tborologie rbgionale. Le-Puy-en-Velay. 1923. 87 p. figs. 25) cm.
Vbeather research on the Kermadec Islande. Wellington. 1922. p. 265-274. illu~. charta. 25 cm. (Repr. New Zealand lourn. mi. 6 tech. v. 5, no. 5,1922.)
Baldit, Albert.
Bates D.C.
Benurd, Augustin. Le dgime des luiee au Maroc. Contribution preliminaire a
16tude de la rfuviom6trie du Msroc. Rabat. 1921. ii, 95 p.
latea. 25 cm. (M6m. BOC. sci. nat du Maroc. T. 1, no. 1, fan. 1, 1921.)
[California. H i w a y commission, &. U. S. Bureau of public roads.] Re rt of whway research at Pittebur Calif., 1921 and 1922. Eramento. 1923. 146 p. illus. p k h . 27 cm. [Includee diacuseion of effect8 of temperature on concrete pavement.]
of the atmosphere on the rate of
th of young anima E. p. 236-240. 2+ cm. (Exc: South %can journ. sci. v. 19, Dec., 1922.)
70169--23---.3
Clmer, Rustace E. Influence of the cooling
Cox, Eenry ose h. Th-! beks and fruit growing in North Carolina. Washington. 1928. v, 106 p. plates. maps. diagrs. 31 cm. (Monthly weather review. Suppl. no. 19.)
Lufthtille und Klima. Leipxig. 1933. vis, 186 p. figs. 26 cm. (Enzykloptidie der Erdkunde.)
Defant, Albert & Obst. Erich.
Everdingen [E.] van. Uitreikhg van d_e Buys-Ballot-medaille a m Sir Napier Shaw op 26 Mei 1923. I p. 34 cm. (Repr. Physica. 3e jaargang. 1923.)
Febrer. Joaquim. Plugea a Catalunya durant Ihivern de 1921-1923. Barcelona. 1922-23. illus. (Yervei metoorolagic de Catalunya. Notea destudi. no. 8, 23.)
Spring hoods of 1922. Washington. 1923. v, 29 p. plates. map 31 cm. (Monthly weather review. Supplement no. 22.)
Le .carat@$icha del.latma$eF libera aulla Valle Pad-. Rmltati de1 eondagg cbmpiuh ne1 R. OeeenvatoriO ofiaico di Pavia ne1 quindicennio 1906-1920. Venezia. 19%. 36 p.
. figs. 3 4 cm.
Franksdeld Harry Crawford.
Gamba, Pericle.
Guhardt, W. F. The de Bothezat barogra h, type A. W e g t o n . 1923. 11 p. illus. 28) cm. (Rir service inform. cuc. v. 5, May 1, 1923.)
Great Britain. Meteorological Orec? Book of normals of meteorol cal elements for the British Islee for periods ending 1915. yect. IVa. Range of variation of temperature and rainfall. Sect. 1% F uency tables for hail, thunder, snow, mow lying, and g r o x frost. London. 1953. p. 153-220. 243 cm.