New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-13
SOUNDING THE UPPER AIR.
ALMOST SIMULTANEOUS BALLOON AS
CENTS.
sruDYING ThB RATE vt WHICH TENPERATrRE
DECREASES WITH HEIGHT-ANING At
BETTER FORECASTS.


in the art of weather prediction until more Is
known about the conditions which prevail in the
upper air At present it is customary to make
charts on which are noted the temperature.
pressure wind direction and state Of the SKY
at a given hour all over the country. This chart
shows the situation existing at the earth's sur
face, but not at any elevation. Now if 1t were
practicable to learn the temperature and some
other details at the height Of mile. two miles.
or three miles at the moment Of observation at
the surface. it is not improbable that storms
could be foresccn with greater accuracy than
they now.
one reason for thinking is this: There Is a
PERTAIN general average rate At which the TEN
perature dminishcs one goes upward. If at
any given time the upper layers are warmer
than they should Ice. according To this standard.
there would be no danger Of disturbance. But
II the temperature diminished too rapidly. then
the urre- lay would have a disposition to ex-
change places With the air below it. The at
mosrherc would then be said to be in a state Of
unstable equilibrium" This Is the condition of
affairs in a thunderstorm. FOR instance.
While the United States Weather Bureau is
Trying to conduct simultaneous observations
alon by means Of kites. similar Investigations
are being attempted abroad by means OF bal
looms Until recently each balloon ascension
for meteorological purposes was conducted with
out any special reference to other localities.
- he sure. II a number Of asc"nts were made
successfully in one locality with intervals Of
days or weeks between them It would be dis
covered that the dmnution Of temperature a
hundred feet would be different day
from what il was On another hut no pTcmo-
milton Of coming changes in the air above could
be- obtained in this way. Such Information
would be obtained only after it Vas too late TO
do any good. Hence for two or three years
efforts have been made to arrange FOR stimuli
famous asccnts at several places. either within
tn boundaries Of some one country or else in
different countries Something can also be
gained 10y having TWO " thrcc accents from one
ncghhorhood to different elevations. As yet
this Inc II inquiry has not been pursued very
far. The expense u balloonins Is too great
70 make frequent induIg,nc,s ~ It feasible. But
something IS learned with nearly every venture
o. this class.
Tho latest issue II The United states
weather Review" contains an account OF five
as,cusious which were conducted IN France on
tn same day last spring only one u the bal
looms was manned. The others were merely
equipped with sclf-recorling instruments and
30 labelled that recovery would be poss.5 Bile when
thcy landed. Three u the unnamed balloons
were u the same size. having L capacity II 100
cubic metres. one u them Was dispatched at
Trappes a few miles southwest u Paris. and
two went up from Limoges. one hundred and
thirty or one hundred and forty miles to the
south Of that city. The remaining UNNAMED
balloon and the which carried passengers
departed from Parts.
The balloon which went up from Trappes
reached an elevation of A. $50 feet or about > 3
miles. This one recorded "A minimum temperature
OF Ga degrees Fahrenheit. The rate Of dirninu-
ton with height in this instance was GJi2 Of a
degree for every 100 metres. or 32S feet The
balloon which took up passengers attained an
elevation Of only 1880 feet or ~ miles The
dminution in this was l3lIS degrees to
each 100 metres The unnamed balloon from
Paris assembled nearly 1000 feet higher than
TN one just mentioned and showed a dimnu-
ton at almost exactly the same rate
Tho TWO which went up from Limoges gave
results intermediate between those obtained
from the Trapres ana Paris asc.nts. one.
launched at > f. O'Clock in the morning. moved
of 20 the cast. ana landed about seventy -hvc
miles away. The other dispatched at o27
O'Clock, and noltcd almost due north It came
70 the earth thirty Give miles away But while
these two balloons made the same record for
height - 300 fcot-thcy gave slightly different
temperature results ono showed diminution
Of .927 Of degree hundred metres. and the
Other Los. Taken together, these figures ind-
cat" that on this particular day IN" temperature
diminished with ascent more rapidly near the
earth than at height Of six TO eight miles.
Another set might show contrary state OF
things.
Among the instruments taken aloft in the
manned balloon 4 mcrcurial barometer.
The constant oscillation Of the fluid therein
made iuuuOcsiblc ID read II with any accu-