The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-09
DISCOVERIES I'M UPPER AIR.
German Scientists Observations of
Unusual Interest.
New York Herald. J

An announcement made yesterday at
the congress of German Scientists in
Dresden by Professor HergeseIl, giving
the results obtained from recent bal
loon observations in the upper atmOs-
phere, is of extraordinary interest, as
they reveal new and important discov-
cries. Professor Hergesell of Stra SIS
burg university, after carefully study
ing the records made by unnamed
balloons sent up in July over various
parts of the earth, reports that the at
mospnere at great attitudes is coolest
over the equator and warmest over the
c1rcumpOlar regions.
The observations were taken under
the auspices of the International COM
mittee of scientists with automatically
registering instruments inclOSed in the
unnamed balloons. Attitudes ranging
from eleven to twelve and a half miles
were reached over the tropical zone,
with the result that the balloon instru-
ments registered a temperature Of las
degrees below zero, while the balloons
which were sent up to similar heights
in the ATTITUDES of central Europe reg
istered only from 76 to So degrees of
temperature below zero. The irresisti-
bic inference seems to be that if the
high air over the poles could be tested
by self-registering thermometers it
would be found much warmer than that
at corresponding high levels over the
equator.
The discoveries announced by Pro-
fessor Hergesell may appear to be
open 10 scientific questioning and re-
vision. Doubtless the cable dispatch
merely outlines the general results of
the observations taken at great eleYa-
lions. Nevertheless, the deductions are
consonant with all that has been pre-
viously established respecting the tenn
peratures prevailing in the upper at
mOsphere of our planet. More than a
year ago observations taken at remark
able heights over a limited area of the
tropical Atlantic indicated unmistak-
ably a temperature of at least so de-
grees below zero. and it is by no means
incredible that in other tropical re-
giOns the upper atmosphere develops
much greater cold.
But, it may be asked, Why is the
cold greater at high levels over the
tropical zone than it is in the middle
and circumpolar ATTITUDES? An ex-
PLANTATION may be found in the well
known fact regarding the general cir
culation Of the atmosphere. Within the
Overheated zone of the trade winds the
elastic and hot surface air ascends con-
tinually, especially along the equato-
rial belt of Gains. and as it rises sew
eral miles above sea level it not only
parts with its watery vapor by con-
densation, but the remaining dry air in
its prolonged ascent must become so
intensely rarified that it loses heat by
radiation and expansion much faster
than it can absorb heat from the suns
rays
We may therefore easily see why the
tropical air from rising from low lev
els to a height Of $1,000 feet has its
temporal ure lowered until ii partakeS
of the cold of interstellar space. On
the contrary, within the temperate and
polar regions the air has no general
ascending motion like that of the trop-
iCal atmosphere. In the midle and
high ATTITUDES the atmospheric over
flow from the tropical belt has a gener-
al descending motion, and consequently
the descending aerial masses are con-
tinually warmed mechanically by COM
preston as they sink downward and
penetrate the denser atmospheric
strata of the lower levels. Observa-
tons by polar explorers have shown
that on and near the arctic and ant
arctic circles the prevailing winds blow
out from the poles, and are such as to
indicate the existence of almost perep-
nially descending air currents over the
areas surrounding both the north and
the south poles.
II is not apparent how the discoveries
in high air announced yesterday by
Professor Hergesell can Immediately
be utilized by science in advancing the
practical knowledge of the atmospheric
changes going on upon the surface of
the earth. but il is highly probable that
they will eventually contribute in
very important degree toward clearing
up some of the mysteries of terrestrial
weather and climates which have NTH
erto defied all attempts of physicists to
elucidate.