The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-09-19
KITES IN AID OF SCIENCE.


and France Cooperate In Making
Meteorological nvestigatisn.
The first permanent station for kite
flying In Europe. and the first In the
world established under governmental
auspices. is that at viborg. in the ex-
treme northern part Of Denmark. Pho
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 1t is q private institution. II Ii
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 80 feet high. mounted
on circular rails, so that 1t can be ro-
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-
tematic 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,
The value of the data obtained is be-
lieved to depend largely on the contin-
uity Of the observations. Hence It is de-
sirable to have self-recording barome-
tiers, thermometers and registers Of hui
Nudity and wind force tell their stories
as often as possible. For this special
service all four types of instruments are
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-
walton reached. What the meteor
ologists want to study Is the situation in
the upper parts Of highs" and lows"
as these drift over the country, and COM
pare 1t 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-
HANGED
The great majority Of the ascents have
been to heights of $500 to 1000 meters,
or in the vicinity of mile; but occa-
sionally the kites go up 1900 to 1000
meters The amount Of wire which must
be let out depends partly on the eleva-
ton Of the kites. and partly on the angle
which the string forms with horizon
tai line. On an average the length Of
wire is 80 per cent. greater than the
height attained. The duration of each
ascent is mainly dictated by the strength
of the wind. AS soon as the predeter-
mined amount of wire is run out, the
windlass Is set to hauling 1t in. A fresh
instrument is substituted for the other
one 1.-THE removal of whose records takes
time), and the kites are started up once
more.
In case of breakage. time Is required
for repairs; but there is always at least
one extra instrument on hand. The ap-
paratus Is 80 adjusted in a basket that
1t will not suffer harm. unless 1t gets
a heavy fall. A letter is attached to
this. offering a reward of seven francs
(about $1.40) to the finder for bringing it
back. Then II 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 "a 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.