Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-08
covering the kite is both black and
white for the sake OF visibility.
The Great Eastward Drift.


white for the sake of visibility.
The Great Eastward Drift.
The kites are expected to fly higher ana
more satisfactorily on the return than on
the outward cruise of the Caesar This is
because the general drift of the air over the
Atlantic is eastwardly; hence on the pres
ent outward trip the vessel is going with
the wind. In the course of his elaborate
cloud observations made for the weather
bureau and in cooperation with foreign
countries. Prof. Bigelow found that the air
In the region of the highest clouds is due
eastwardly across the United States. the
Atlantic and thence around the world.
Buoyant bodies caught In this upper cur
rent might, If free, continue to circumnavi-
gate the worlds atmosphere for several
years.
The ashes from the japanese volcano
krakatoa continued about the earth in this
way for several years and produced beau
tiful sunset effects. The atmosphere seems
to consist of layers, each of which is re-
volving more swiftly than that next below
1t. The highest velocity which the profess
SCR ever observed was that of a cloud of
the 'mackerel sky class, darling through
the upper air at the enormous velocity of
1873 miles per hour. about three miles
a minute. But after reducing his measure
ments to average Velocities he found that the
highest clouds of all have the highest average
speed, varying from about a mile a minute
in summer to nearly seventy-SeVen miles an
hour in winter. These highest and fastest
clouds are the delicate white forms which
appear like groups of motionless feathers
against the clear, blue sky
Storm Motions Are High Up.
AS the earths surface is approached the
air currents deviate from this due eastward
torrent and become more and more serpen-
tine. When within a mile and a half of the
earth wind eddles begin to form. while still
lower and against the earth or sea surface
these eddies form great storm worthless 500
to 1000 miles in diameter. The high white
clouds know no storms, and when the wind
is changing to blow up weather disturb
ances below the great eastward drift of at
mosphere above. continues undisturbed.
Yet the most rapid storm motions are in
the clouds mile and a half up. Above
and below this level storm motions de-
crease.
A scheme for sending up kites and bal
looms bearing weather-recordfng instru-
mentS into the different cloud levels on
stated days. and for so doing simultaneously
from many scattered stations posi-
BILE over the entire earth has been planned
by the international meteorological con-
gress. The United States has been asked to
cooperate in this line of research.
Weather Bureau Studying New Bal
looms.
The weather bureau is testing balloons of
different patterns for work similar to that
intrusted to its kites. There are now on
the market many small captive balloons
pecially designed for meteorological expert
ment. One of these is miniature of the
of the kite-balloon adopted by the Ameri-
can and German armies. While 1t is an en-
velope inflated with hydrogen gas, 1t is
poised at the angle of the ordinary kite,
and presenting fat surface to the wind
the higher the gale the higher 1t mounts the
air, which is exactly the opposite of the ac-
ton of a globular or pear-shaped balloon
held captive
One of these little kite-balloons has. since