Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-11
TESTING AIR STRATA
New Experiments Conducted by
Worlds Big MeteoroIogists.
USE KITES AND BALLOONS
Hodgkins Grant From Smithsonian
Institution an Aid.
WORK AT BLUE HILL, BOSTON
DR.. A. L. Rotch Secures Records of
Temperature, Pressure and Air
Currents Ten Miles Away.
YORK AT BLUE HILL, BOSTON

| Currents Ten Miles Away.
! Attention has recently been directed to an
| extensive series of experiments conducted
| at various spots on the surface of the
| earth to determine by means of high-fying
kites and so-called sounding balloons the
conditions of our atmosphere at different
| distances from the earth. These expert
ments may mean the beginning of co-opera-
| ton between meteorologists in every part
of the world in investigating not only the
stratum of air that blows over the low
| lands and sweeps around the high noun
| tains, but the layers of atmosphere, equally
| important to our comfort, which dwindle
| out into the ether
Observing at high attitudes is not abso-
| lutely a new idea, but within recent years
| records have been obtained at heights which
| not long ago would have been judged prac
| tically impossible.
Aided by Hodgkins grant from the
| Smithsonian Institution, DR.. A. Lawrence
| Rotch director of the Bue Hill meteorolog
! ica observatory just outside of Boston, by
| means of sounding balloons, has several
| times secured records of temperature, press
| ure and air currents ten miles away from
| the earth Other investigators at Mount
| Weather, Bluemont, Va, have succeeded in
! obtaining similar records at equally high al
| titudes, and the results obtained may fur
| nsh data valuable in daily weather fore
| casting In fact, the observation of air cur
| rents at higher attitudes may soon be con-
stdered vitality necessary in correct weather
predictions.
The history of attempts to invade this
| atmospheric realm at a great distance from
| the earth is interesting.
Earliest Experiments.
As early 1749 certain professor at
| Glasgow, DR.. Alexander Wilson, attached
| thermometers to kites and flew them into
| the clouds. This is the first experiment of
the sort on record. 1t was only three years
| later that Benjamin Franklin on this side
of the water performed very similar obser
| vations, but with the far more startling re-
| suits pictured In every school boys his
| tory.
Dr. Lawrence Rotch not long ago wrote
for the Smithsonian Institution the story
of high altitude investigations in this coun-
| try. In speaking of researches into the
upper air subsequent to those of wilson and
Franklin he says:
! About 1897 there existed in Philadelphia
| an organization called the Franklin Kite
| Club, that flew kites for recreation. Espy,
| the eminent meteorologist. was a member,
! and he states that on those days when
| columnar clouds form rapidly and numer-
| ously the kite was frequently carried up
ward almost perpendcuarly by columns of
| ascending air, phenomenon which is often
| observed today. Espy calculated the height
! at which clouds should form by the cooling
| Of the air to Its dew point, and then en-
| poyed kites to verify his calculations OF
| the heights Of the clouds. Both these
methods utilized in the measurements
| Of cloud heights at Blue Hill.
| Kites were employed to get tempera-
| lures Of hundred feet or more above
the Arctic ocean early In the nineteenth
| century, and in 1S47 Mr.. w. r. Brit Of the
| Kew observatory in England few a kite
! for the DIlrDOSe of measuring temDerat
| humidity. wind velocity, ETC. In 1882 Mr..
| Douglas Archibald, in England, revived the
use of kites for meteorological observations
and outlined comprehensive scheme of
exploring the air with kites, which included
almost all that has been done since
Kite Photography.
Mr. Archibald's experiments, Dr. Rotch
explains, We're never completed, but to him
is due the honor in 1887 of taking the first
photograph from kite, a method which
NM. Bataut and Wenz developed in France
and Messrs. Eddy and Weglom in the
| United States.
| Other experiments of the sort have since
been undertaken by investigators at a num-
| Der of observatories.
| I'm August, 1894" says DR.. Rotch, Mr.
William A. Eddy of New Jersey brought
| his kites to Blue Hill, and with them lifted
| a Richard thermograph, which had been
| partly reconstructed of aluminium by Mr..
| Ferguson of the observatory, that 1t
| weighed about two and a quarter pounds
to the height of 400 feet, and here the
| earliest automatic record of temperature
| was obtained by q kite"
| 1t was a couple of years later that DR..
| Rotch began his own experiments an
| extensive scale. In January, 1897, the
| Smithsonian Institution granted a sum to
| DR.. ROtch to work upon the problem of
getting records of the properties of the
| atmosphere at points far away from the
| earth. Kites were flown high as II 900
| feet with instruments attached, but to do
| this an anchored steam engine had to be
| constructed and strong piano wire used.
Still later kites were sent up over fifteen
thousand feet and couple of dozen rec
| ords secured from this height.
In the meantime investigators in Europe
| had conceived the idea of sending up what
! they called "ballons-sond These were
rubber balloons of various sizes. four or
| five to ten feet in diameter, filled with
gas. To them were attached small para
chutes with baskets carrying self-recording
Instruments AS the balloon assembled and
atmospheric pressure lessened the bag ex-
panded until, reaching the limit of its ten
sion, the rubber broke and released the
parachute with its precious burden. These
floated gradually to the ground to be picked
up and returned for a nominal reward.
/ Theoretically it was supposed the rub
her bags burst suddenly, but experience
showed that as the balloon expanded the
pores in the rubber opened gradually,
allowing the escape only of small guam
balloons to reach much higher attitudes
than was at first hoped for.
Dr. Rotch Experiments.
At st. Louis, aided partly by the Smith
| sonian Institution, DIR. Rotch released
| balloons of this sort properly equipped
| ito ascertain the annual variation of
| temperature in the free air at great
heights" Says DR.. Rotch
Twelve balloons were dispat ched In
July, 1905, and all but two of the at
| tached instruments were recovered. Their
automatic records of barometric pressure
and air temperature. showed an extreme
height of nearly ten miles. with the low
| est temperature of IA degrees below zero
| Fahrenheit at less altitude. The place
and time of the descent indicated the
| average direction and speed of the air
| currents. All of the last twenty-one bal
| looms and instruments sent up In April
and May. 1906, We're returned, some of
| them having risen ten miles and en-
| countered a temperature of So degrees
below zero Fahrenheit eight miles above
| the earth. At about seven miles rela-
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