Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-04-27
NOUN lAINS OF The SKY.
RESULTS OF SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF
CLOUDS.
Some Surprising Discoveries Made in TIL
Government Cloud Bureau Some
Clouds Are Snow slapped and Higher
Than Amy Mountains on Earth.


dent Of the Boston Transcript. Some me
ago the United States entered into = - m
pact with other nations whereby each was
TO make a complete survey If it's clouds
our share of the novel work WAS iu,rust-
cd to Professor Frank II. BigeloW, ME
Wcll-hnown meteorological and astronomer
cf the Weather Bureau, who now an
nounccs for the first time some Of thc
interesting conclusions reached
/ The Cloud Surveys work was done at
! forty-fOur stations uniformly dis;riDut, d
over the country. Each ubscrVc Cupluy-
ed specially designed instrument known
"a a ncphOsCope, primarily n graduated
mirror, which determined the velocity
and direction of clouds by measuring lie
motions of their images across its taco.
what was known as the primary station
in reality two StationS-WaS established
4 in Washington at either end Of
base line, carefully measured off b-twech
the roof of the Weather Bureau and tho
west tower of the War Department puilG-
ing. The ubst rVcrS at the two ends &C
the base linc were in complete tclopnOnic
connection. They wore helmet receivers.
and had before them convenient trans
mitters admitting of the free employment
OF the hands for the manipulation Of the
thcodoitios used for determining the rcia-
tive position OF selected points IN the
CLOUD FERNS. The standard weather bur
eau clock beat seconds through the tcc-
phone circuit to enable readings to lie
made after careful telephone agreement
upon particular point on each cloud.
Othcr points being sighted suCCe ssiTr'y,
the angles considered in connection with
the known length Of the base line gave
the height of the cloud above the earth,
its dimensions. and when readings from
the same cloud were made after given in
tcrVaIs, their speed of travel
These data, whose computation Profess
* fus 81 will H., 1f
value not only to metcorOlOGlsts. but to
that great future school of scientists who
are to deal with the navigation Of the
upper air. by determining the motions
ana Vclocitcs Of clouds of known he, shts.
Professor Bigelow Of course discovered the
motions ard velocities Of air currents of
tho same level
Perhaps the most interesting of his dis
covcrics is that while the average vcio-
city of the wind at ground level is hut
twelve miles an hour, that Of the highest
clouds varies from % to 80 miles an hour.
In other words, man drifting with the
wind in balloon or airship would skim,
Il few feet from the ground. over the
carth's surface, at a speed averaging only
onc-iifth that of a mlc-a-m!Iute express,
but ii simply drifting in the highest c.Cud
zun" six t" eight miles up, his SpCol
might be half again as great as the sumo
express. Another interesting discovery is
| that clouds travel faster through aerial
regions of low pressure than they do
through those of high pressure. Still
another Is that the direction of the motion
" ''l9 i"I'is ''0"it,6 i'''' Il" w
gun ol '"r n!SntSt clouuS y, "S u'9oo 81
=" az t"'H S.'''"i' u"c ''S."a
nv 'H'V'u Ht"''H' c'"Si. !" '"'S l"P"'
navigate the glove so long as it rema' mol
in the upper air The motion of the clouds
apoN' uS SHOWS 'i'"l II "o"Iu ~ ''oS,'
Nv =" 'i'Nr an '''i.", ''"i NY .''' '''
"'',c 'u"A, 10 tnt A'."'.'lc y! Nl'''iN
nl'''H'"t III 'lc UNI " .i'o upl'ei "'.' "u'
Wv "t''lI" VI "'"'Is N""'' NC
i'"' POo''''' UNI. f" - d" "t""i'' CIV,
'"rlH were t"nnP'''eu vi uI'oS9 So'''o
p'W''I"' iidcH'"c co"u pv ""l'' 10 '''r u
non II"I current Vi ar t'Icc ''''!'S as
'"''I 80 w 80 O'''' ~ q" -. Ct"
SIoun" I'NrL w me tHlS n1tu.'" UNI "l
,"' hIS'tc' 'i'' II t"Ht"diu' i'lVHH'l DIS
10" ln'S ''"l II Is ~ ii'' S'ntr 'ii'p,
HH7"H9 S"H"o,H ~ P'H',''' ~ ''F''
cI'uu lay T. Sho" tlat as 'he e"rth S'i-
I"Cr - "pPi"''h'u '''e '''oN '"i'i' "V|o'',
S'l'' "'"'' S'lP'"'I'l' "i'''l M''"' d "'I''
ann Il nan OF US WIoh euuIcS "eSH 10
10, III Descending lurtI'r, me" ''u'VS
ti,'' UP u m"'oh almost cfcular' moving
t""Ht great N"rN''S l"'' 70 -'' il!''9 III
di'm'ter' Which are icuhd 10 coIreSHond
10 III" ar''S HiTkod hlelS ana IONS
ullol our ulllA W'H'h'i h'"pS'
me survey mas also SHOWN mat storm
ACTIONS OF inc Wlhd are 'ohllhcd I" w e
region ol the low clouuS' Wl'hm TWO or
! on NV" ana a hall miles OF u. Inc m 50
most RAPID storm motion is w the region o.
tho ChaIhS OF ball-lke strato-cumuiis
. CLOUDS at Il helsht 81 mic ana a M l.
Above ana hol"W th'rc IL laIIS on so lar
as storms are concerned. But reports re-
cei\"d from the fourteen scattered user
walton stations, Wh"h put together lndi-
cate, acc ordlng to Professor Bise'ow, that
while the winds down here are changing
ANA sweeping around to form these great
storm NortlctS, the upper AR currents IN
the region OF the hlSh white clouds,
WhlcE know no storms, are sun normal
ana continue steadily eastward over the
northern temperate zone. Thus II would
appear that our future ships of the air
must when storms approach, hasten to
the high white clouds distant from land.
just ~ sailors of the water must upon
similar warning hurry out to sea, away
from shore. The clouds show also that
even i'm the faircSt weather an aerial NON-
age would have to be made at least two
or tire" miles alloy" the earth to avoid
tire lower Cudics. Pcl EapS over our new
possessions however, the chances for
laclOdromc flight with the wind would bc
better inasmuCh as in the tropiCs the gen
eral wind drift in the region of the lower
clouds is westward. The clouds of tie
tropics have, however, shown that 1T a
height of four or five miles a calm with
little movement either way would he en-
countcred. Above this the universal
eastward current would be encountered
Farther south. in the lower temperate