The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-17
Ckansas CITY Star.)

Scientists of thirty nations arc
making a systematic exploration of
tho upp"r depths of the air. trying to
solve the mysteries of the atmos-
ph"rlc ocean that covers the earth.
They are doing this With what they
call "s"undin- balloons" that they
send up with ingenious contrivanccs
attached that take the altitude, the
temperature and tho moisture of the
upper air and write it down on sheets
Of rtpcr that are read after the bal
loon drops back to earth.
They have even dipped a gallon Of
tho air from the atmospheric ocean
At a height of twelve miles as easily
as n would dip a bucket of water
ii down and weighed and analyzed il
To SO" if ii differed from the air we
breathe.
They haV" sent these sounding bal
looms T." a height of eighteen miles
and watched their flight through tele-
scopes and another queer instrument
called a thcodnlite. that measures its
height and speed. and in that way
they have learned the velocity of cer-
tain currents of air tina ALWAYS blow
in the same direction.
In other ways they have studied
the 0eeps Of the aerial ocean by means
Of volcanic dust that noats fifty miles
above us. forming what they call
"noctilucent Clouds" that float and
drift i'm the heavens sometimes fer
five years before they sift down To
earth. They study the air depths
through the auroras and through the
flight of meteorites through our at
mosphere. $50 and 200 miles above.
the earth.
The scientists who are doing this
arc called "meteorolosists." and their
work is called "aerology.'
II is Il new science and it has upset
nany theories that We're thought to
b" settled scientific facts ten wears
ago: and il has discovered some
things about our atmosphere that are
startling in the new fields for thought
and imagery that they open up.
1t has been onlv twenty wears since
the scientists the world over asserted
that it would be impossible for man
I" ascend higher than four miles. But
in 1907 i2eason and Surfing Went un
IN a spherical gas balloon from Stras-
burg to n height Of nearly seven miles,
the greatest altitude ever reached by
man. and. although one of them
tainted at that distance from earth.
both of them came down safely.
They carried with them tanks of
oxygen and when they got ur to
Where th@ air vas thin they brcathed
tn" oxygen through nczzles INC were
almost as comfortable as they would
haN" been upon the ground.
That balloon hi:s!lt upset ore theory.
as TO what might he possible with
specially constructed apparatus. such
as breathing tanks and clothing that
might be electrically warmed.
Recently Prof. A"gazzatta of Turin
made a large bell and inclosed him
self in il and had the air gradually
pumped out until that in the bell be-
III. the upper air. His face vas COW
cred with a kind Of mask With two
VALVES in il, through one of when
he hrcathod the thin air within he
bell. and through the other the air
ne respired went out beyond the bell.
TO make the air within the bell as
like as possible to the upper atmos-
Of oxygen. IL per cent of carbonic
acid and 20 per cent of nitrogen. The
r~arefaction of the air in the bell cor
Responded to that prevailing at nine
miles above the earth, exceeding by
two and a half miles the greatest alti-
tude reached by man. He remained
in the bell an hour, and when he
came ont he said:
Il could have stood a still greater
r~arHtaction. as my memory was quite
clear and my power Of movement nor
NAL"
One of the most thrilling discoveries
made by the exploration of the upper
ar rs mat after a certain altitude is
~eached n temperature grove stead
nv hlSher. As every school boy
Knows, one of the accepted statements
of science Is that it grows steadily
colder the higher the altitude, and
this has been one of the bars placed
by sclenc" against any theory that
some day man might conquer the air
even to its greatest depth. Only q
few Years ago Prof. A. Lawrence
Rotch. director Of the Blue Hill Me-
teorological observatory. said. writing
in the Scientific American:
1T is certain aeronauts will never
rise to the upper limits of the atmos-
Dhere. This rare and intensely cold
arr viii forever form an impossible
barrier to all animate creatures"
But at a recent of Ger
man scientists it was brought out from
the reports Of results of sounding bal.
loon experiments in all parts of the
world that the greatest cold of the
atmosphere is reached at six miles.
varying somewhat in different parts
Of the world. being coolest over the
equator and warmest above the Arc
tics: and that above hat height, con-
'ihiN W 'il' assumption oil all seen
lists hitherto, the air actually grows
warmer. This upper warm stratum
was found everywhere in the tropic
and temperate zones. ear the Arctic
circle n over the Atlantic ocean.
The temperature decreased regularly
to a height of eight miles. where il
was SO degrees below freezing. and
then it rose until at nine miles it was
81 degrees and at eighteen miles, the
highest point to which n thermometer
was ever sent. 1t was reduced to 80
degrees. A similar gradual rising in
temperature was recorded by every
balloon ever sent to great heights.
A sounding balloon. SEN up in
France. went to ten miles and re-
manned at that altitude for several
hours before an eighty mile an hour
gale. The barometer and thermome-
ter were equipped with automatic
! pens that bore on reels Of paper, all