Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-08-14

also Initiated the practice in this coun.
try OF sending up small rubber bal.
looms.
The observatory at Mount Weather
is now we'll equipped with the neces.
sary plant for carrying on this new
and promising work of aerial re-
search, and has for nearly a year been
cooperating with European institu-
lions and with the Blue Hill observa-
tory In sending up, on prearranged
days, kites or captive balloons. These
kites may be raised in winds varying
from ten miles Per hour to 35 or 40
miles at the surface. With winds Of
less than ten miles per hour it is
necessary to employ captive balloons.
To attain great heights small free rub
Der balloons of two or three cubic
yards capacity, called pilot balloons,
are employed. The instrument car
ried by the kites and balloons vary
in weight from one and one-half to
three or four pounds and record varia
tons In the temperature, the pressure,
the humidity of the air, and the wind
velocity.
The balloons are filed with hydro
gen gas in order to secure the great
est lifting power. This necessitates
the use of special apparatus for the
manufacture of hydrogen. At the
Mount Weather Research observatory
strong electric current is passed
through water, breaking up the liquid
into its constituent elements Of hydro
gen and oxygen. These gases are tEHn
collected and stored in appropriate
tanks for future use as occasion may
require.
AS the small pilot balloons carry up
their instruments to heights Of many
miles, where the prevailing tempera-
. lures are at all times very low (some-
times exceeding 100 degrees Fahren-
heit below zero), it is necessary to
test the accuracy CT the thermograps
at these low points. For this purpose
the observatory is equipped with q
plant for the manufacture of liquid air,
by means of which the instrument
may be tested to the lowest points
likely to be reached at great eleya-
TONS
In the near future these small rub
Der pilot balloons, carrying with them
to elevations of 10000 to $4,000 feet
the light self-recording instruments
referred to, will be liberated simulta.
neous at 20 to 30 weather bureau sta
tons surrounding typical storm Gen.
ters Observations obtained In this
manner at various elevations when
compared with the records made at
the same time at the surface OF the
earth will doubtless throw much new
light upon the mechanism of storms,
cold waves, ETC., and give to meteorolo-
gists a better understanding OF the
general circulation of the atmosphere.
So important to the study Of the sun
is a continuous record of the magnetic
variations that one of the first steps
in the establishment Of the observa-
tory was the installation Of magnetic
plant consisting Of the best modern
instruments for the direct observation
and for the continuous registration OF
the variations in the magnetism of the
earth. The standard observatory in
struments, both for continuous regis
tration and direct measurement, are OF
the type devised by Wild for the model
magnetic observatory at Paylovsk,
Russia. These are supplemented by a
set of Eschenhagen magnetographs.
the extreme sensitiveness of which
peculiarly fits them for recording
minute fluctuations of the earth's mag
netic force.
The principal application Of the re-
suits of the observations will be to
supplement the direct observations OF
the sun, and thus to carry on the rec
ord of the solar activity continuously
day and night in all conditions Of
weather. Researches will also be car
ried on to determine the existence and
measure the extent of probable direct
relations between meteorological dis
turbances and magnetic variations.
The magnetic records will also be spe-
cially studied in conjunction with the
results of observations of the radioac-
tivity and the electrical condition Of
the air.
WILLIS L. MOORE,
Chief Weather Bureau Department.