The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-06-13
rEspEsArURE OF UPPER AIR.
Supposed Warm Stratum Six or Eight
Miles Up.

OuppOstu NufHl DtfhtuIu OK OF Eight
Miles Up.
One of the most interesting in
quiries undertsSen in the last few
years has relatdJ to the temperatures
which prevail at great attitudes. The
snow on mountain tops indicates
that there is a difference between
the situation there and at lower
levels, but there was q desire to learn
whether the decrease of warmth with
elevation continued at the same rate
in regions remote from mountains.
One of the best ways to find out is
to go up in balloon. taking along
both a thermometer and barometer,
the latter instrument serving to show
how high the aeronaut has gone.
This plan is beset with difficulties,
however. A balloon suited TO such
work must be big and costly, and
for It's imitation a good deal of gas
Is needed. Again, the decrease IL
the density of the air has a danger
Gus effect on some men. The high.
est ascent with a manned" balloon
concerning which there is no doubt
was made from Stassfurt, Prussia,
in 1894, by DR.. Berson. He reached
an altitude Of 10000 feet, or nearly
six miles.
But it is possible to study the air
at that and greater elevations in
more simple and economical manner
Balloons which are only large enough
to carry the instruments are now ex-
| fAncfua1U a..
shielded with wicker work so that II
will not smash IL it gets fall. Then,
In order to insure it's return to the
owner, the basket is suitably labelled
! and carries an offer of small re-
ward. AS recording devices are at
tached to both thermometer and
barometer 1t is not necessary to main
tain watch on them while they are
In service. They will tell their story
afterwards.
About five years ago two meteor
Dlogists, Teisserenc de Bort (French)
and Richard Assmann Germany, re-
ported what they believed to be a
curious discovery. They declared
that a stratum of warm air existed
between heights of Ave and eight
miles. 1t was long supposed that the
temperature diminished at the rate of
about one degree Fahrenheit for
every three hundred feet of ascent.
In time it was perceived that the
diminution was not quite uniform
and that occasionally a thin layer of
warm air was encountered at a
height of one-half mile or a mile.
Such state of things as NJ De Bort
and DR.. Assmann announced, how
ever, was strange enough to be rather
Incredible, and of late the matter has
been studied by other experts.
One of these, DR.. Hergesell, took
the trouble to watch his balloons
/ through a surveyors theodolite--a
kind of telescope-and he noticed
that when they reached nearly the
greatest height they hung for a time
at the same elevation, whereas DR..
Assmann had supposed that their up
ward velocity steadily increased un-
til the balloon burst. This discovery
of DR.. Hergesell threw doubt on the
existence of warm layer, for a rea-
son that can be easily understood.
The thermometer used In such work
is surrounded with ventilating de-
vice which is expected to overcome
the heating influence of direct sun
light, but the device-"aspiration
tube, DR.. Assmann callB it's useful
only when the instrument Is moving
up or down. II 1t remains nearly
stationary the temperature around
the bulb may be ten or fifteen de-
grees higher than the true shade tenn
perature. A good deal of doubt has
therefore been cast on the theory of
M. De Bort and DR.. Assmann. An
Austrian expert, Herr R. Nimfuhr,
believes that only those records
which were obtained when the sun
was below the horizon are trust
worthy. Ten of these from French
sources indicate, he says, that the fall
of temperature with increasing height
increases slowly at first, then more
rapidly up to eight or nine kilo.
metres, and then diminishes marked.
ly. This takes place in all seasons
and is in agreement with observa;
tions made in other parts of the
[ pInha