Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-04-17
WEATHER man IS
4 REAL PROPHET
MOST OF Time
Long Range Forecasting Like.
ly to Become Accomplished
Fact Instead of Scientific
Dream.

OF Il scientific dream Il Is not often
that congress mahcs any real concos-
sion In behalf of science. especially
when the latter asks money FOR cN.
pcrlmeual purposes but now and
then, even IN an era of rigid economy
the national purse strings loosen up
Ions range weather forccastinp, II
sucrossiul viii uc one Gi the greatest
achievements nt modern science r.
VIII enable tho prophets OF the wealth.
rr bureau TO be- much more skillim
aud accurate than heretofore. II Is
based on the fact that there Is, m
various portions OF the North Amer
ican continent q variation IN the
amount OF radiation from the sun Nj.
rcrtly affecting weather conditions.
When the amount Of variation has
been asccrtainod one OF the most bar.
cling OF scientific problems vii, have
been solved
The smithsonian institution Is in
charge of The work and II ls planned
20 establish an observatory In south
crn Mexico this coming summer II
1, hoped that by July the revolution.
AIRY trouble viii be over or least be ne.
duced 90 q negligible quantity, so that
the expedition can be undertaken
with safety
Congress has provided for the trip
TO Mexico by adding $1,000 to the ap-
preparation regularly made for the
work OF the astrophysical laboratory.
Tho object Of the project Is to com.
plctC tests which are being made ~
the Washington Observatory tsca
iovoD az Mount whitney tthrce miles
elevation. ana AT Nouat Wilson tone
mile elevation Southern Mexico Ia
comparatively cloudlcss region and
observations vii, be made there and
al the other observatoriCs stimuli.
taneously. If the measurements
should agree the presen, scientific ny
pothesis--that there are distinct dit.
fcrences of solar radiation will have
been proved
Dr. { g Abbott of the Smithsonian
institution Is in charge of the work
and has issued the following state.
mcni regarding 1t
When we began to make these
measurements there was nowhere IN
the world an exact scale oi measure.
men: III radiation, although physicists
had been working Ia dcyising instru-
ments for that purpose for go Yeats.
There remained an unccr'ainiy oi :
10 10 per cent IN the Scal' of pcrhrlO.
monlry, ~ It is called We have de
Nisod several instruments 10 be used
as standards for that purpose ana in
this last year Wc have made careful
comparison of Two OF our instruments
of the improved type aud these
agreed perfectly In fixing the scale OF
measurements
The apparatus Is used now as a
standard by which 10 standardiZc 9th.
81 apparatus, which has been sent
around The world We have sent in
strumcnts 10 France and Italy aud
have requests tor them from \rgcn.
tina. Peru and other countyics
Our measurements a, Nj Wilson
have been carried on tor several
Years The first expedition was In
lau5. and We have observed almost
daily Tor six months ct each year
since that time excepting in 1907
In 1910 ! was fortunate In having twu
weeks OF good weather on the sum
nit of Nj Whitney. which Is she
highest mountain IN The United States
! carried on there complete measure
ments which were simultaneous with
hose carried on az Nj Wilson We
have found that the results obtained
az VI whitney check aud substantiatt
completely The work We were doing ~
Mr. Wilson Therefore. having ostab
lished a standard scale ot measure
mcnt and having shown that We get
the same results at Washington. Nj
Whitney and Nj Wilson. W. are nov
able Ia state the value al the solar
cunstani Of radiation This value H.
of an Importance equal 10 that OF the
| distance Of the sun In Astronomical
| work Our measurements show a
range ol the value Of the soar radia
! ton outside of our atmosphere ct
I about per cent
Now bv taking stations SO iil
/ apart. thai no local condition IN th,
/ atmosphere can affect them both ",
may actually prove whether or NOT
! these variations are In 'hy san or ar,
something Wv have nor clmud. cd
from the atmosphere ~ We find hen
In The sun We shall have made dis
coyory OF the FIRST rank
III is clear that b rho aIn Varies
, he temperature of the earth mus
! vars corr, spondingly perhaps NOT al
ways The same az all stations. hc
cause the earth r. So affected by th'
! presence OF waters ana mountain an,
| the like that al stations would no
! behave exactly alike. but vet We vii
bee able 90 find a relation between m
radiation Of the sun aud the tompora
| ture OF the earth, that will De- in
portant TO the meteorological scrNic
! To this country and others
The valuable researches In solar b..
| diation made hN Dr Abbott have bee
| iittlngiy recognized BIS the scien' n
world. lie was awarded the Drape
! gold medal hy the National Academ
OF Sciences last year lie has prob
| ably done as much go make weathr
torecasting accurate ana reliable "a
any scionlis, IN tho world While fh
coming expedition To southern McNiC
viii probably have greater ~cicutlh
! than practical yamc la the work q
! the weather bureau. 10 viii do muC
/ 80 eliminate the awkward errors an
mistakes which have so frequent
made Prot J willis Moore expert
The laughing slocl of the country
4 a IL.