Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-09-22
KITES IN AID OF SCIENCE.
Governments of Denmark, Sweden and France Cooperate in Making
 Me4eorOIogfca1 investigation.


 Meteorological Investigation. The first permanent station for kite living in Europe, and the first in the world established under governmental auspices, is that at Viborg, in the ex-, treme northern part of Denmark. Pio- neer work in sounding the upper air. with meteorological instruments which were carried up by kites was done at the Blue Hill observatory, near Boston, but that it is a private institution. It is worthy of note that the greatest alti- tudes yet reached by his method (about three miles) were attained there. Some what extended experiments have been made in the United States, too, under the direction of the Washington bureau, and while these may be renewed in the future, they have hitherto been brief, temporary and more or less disconnect- ed At Viborg provision has been made for more continuous exploration, the governments of Denmark, Sweden and France cooperating in the scheme Dele gates of international reputation in weather science from these countries met to fix the site and plan other de- tails, says the New York Tribune.
 The most important building at the station is tower B feet high, mounted on circular rails, so that it can be TO- tated easily, and left open on one side. No matter from which direction the wind blows, the tower is turned with this gap to leeward. Thus the opera tor can sit within. where the windlasses are, and watch his kites. The latter, of course, naturally take their lines down the wind. There are two windlasses, controlled by electric motors, one be- ing held in reserve for immediate use in case the wire on the other breaks while in service.
 From an account which M. Teisserenc de Bori, the director contributes to the latest number of "The United States Weather Review" 1t appears that sys-y tematfc work has been carried on since last August An effort is made to fly the kites by night as well as by day, and the staff is divided into three sections, one relieving another every eight hours. The value of the data obtained is be- 1ieved to depend largely on the contin- uity of the observations. Hence 1t is de- sirable to have seIf-recording barome- ters, thermometers and registers of hu- midity and wind force tell their stories as often as possible. For this special service all four types of instrumentsarel combined in one, and this is placed in the Outermost kite. Usually two or more kites are sent up tandem, the greater the number the higher the ele- vation reached What the meteor ologists want to study is the situation in the upper parts of Thighs" and lows" as these drift over the country, and com pare it with that at the surface of the earth at the same moment. Light on the structure and cause of storms, cold waves and other phenomena may be thus obtained, and accuracy of forecasting en- hanced.
 The great majority of the ascents have been to heights of 1,500 to 2,00O meters, or in the vicinity of a mile; but occa-l sionally the kites go up 5000 to 4,000 meters. The amount of wire which must be let out depends partly on the eleva- tion of the kites, and partly on the angle which the string forms with horizon tai line. On an average the length of wire IS OU per 8CGHt SI6dLSI I1lsau LA6 height attained. The duration of each ascent ismainly dictated by the strength of the wind As soon as the predeter- rnSned amount of wire is run out, the windlass is set to hauling it in. A fresh instrument is substituted for the other one (the removal of whose records takes timel, and the kites are started up once more.
 Tn case of breakage, time is required for repairs; but there is always at least one extra instrument on hand. The ap- paratus is so adjusted in basket that 1t will not suffer harm, unless it gets heavy fall. A letter is attached to this, offering reward of seven francs l (about $1.40) to the finder for bringingit back. Then if kite gets away there is chance of recovering the property. Such luck has been enjoyed even when kites have drifted over 100 miles from the station. Once within 24 hours three instruments, Is kites and nearly nine miles of wire were lost in high winds. The more valuable part of the | apparatus was afterward found. l 1-