Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-03

coverer found that by keeping to the
 seuthward he was favored by winds
 that bore him away from the old world and toward the . Indies. -
 Now that Columbuses of the United
 States navy are preparing to cross
 the Atlantic in the first journey by airplane-in three big seaplanes-they
 find that the winds that waited Co.,;
 lunbus are still blowing westward, making it impracticable in the pres ent stage of aircraft development to
 follow the southerly route from
 America to Europe, even if the great
 distance were not prohibitive. But
 they find that farther north, in the
 latitude of Newfoundland and Ire
 land, the prevailing direction of the
 wind is from west to east, and that
 under good conditions they may cut three hours or more from the time
 that would be required to travel from Newfoundland to Ireland at airplane speed in still air. The same thing ap plies in an airplane journey from Newfoundland to Portugal by way of the Azores. | Wind is the one element of para mount importance to successful transatlantic flight, according to- Professor Charles F. Marvin, chief of the weather bureau United States de- pertinent of agriculture whose bureau is using it's daily reports from all it's stations in the continental United States to give indications of the most favorable day for the long flight to begin; it has arranged to receive wireless and cable reports from ob-r serving stations on the west coast of Europe from Spitzbergen and Ice land in the north to the Azores in the south; and other reports are to come by wireless from naval vessels, | ranging in class from battleships to submarine chaers, posted on the bo- some of the Atlantic. All these re- ports are to be compared, charted and summarized in Washington by the official forecaster, who in this case will be Major E. H. Bowie, who was | on duty as forecaSter for the Amer I ican Experitionary Forces in France during the war. His forecasts and ] detailed advices concerning the meter ological conditions will be transmit ted to Willie R. Gregg, a bureau me 1 teorologist who has studied extensive l ly the relation of weather conditions | to trans Atlantic airplane flights and who has gone to Newfoundland. He I is equipped to tell them not only | when no storm is approaching, but to indicate the successive directions l toward which an airplane should be | headed to keep to q desired course, and also tH oalcuIat., the assistance
 that will be furnished by the winds. 1 As far .ts ;,L1t,44s 6o, tIle naval avl- l ators have little to fear. When North 1 America and the Atlantic are clear of great atmospheric disturbances, it is
 almost sure that an airplane could travel over the whole breadth of the
 ocean, from west Co east. without encountering a storm. The reason for that is the eastward drift of the at
 mosphere. credited sometimes to the
 revolution of the earth, and regarded
 as responsible for the invaria ble ten
 dency of storms in northern attitudes
 to travel from west to east. A great
 storm in this country is likely to ap- lpear in Europe within a few days-a Efact that was put to use during the
 war by meteorologists with the
 American Expeditionary Force. Thus
 if an airplane gets off from this con-
 tinent in clear weather and with
 clear weather ahead no storm deVel- j oping after its departure. is likely to
 catch it.. On the other, hand, an air plane travelling from Europe te America by the northern route would
 do so under the chance Of running
 into a storm before reaching this side
 of the Atlantic. Practically all the fcyclonic disturbances that move across the United States enter the North Atlantic Ocean slightly to the south of Newfoundland.
 It is probable that epochal flight { will be made at an altitude of from 1 600 to 1000 feet-much less than the
 average maintained on long flights ], overland. A reason for this is seen 1T , the belief of meteorologists that a transatlantic aviator would not neeC
 to fly as high as would q transcon- tinenJal aviator ill order to derive the greatest possible assistance from the winds. The reason for their belief 1i that surface. winds at sea are nearl! ] twice as strong as those on land, ant the increase with altitude over thf sea is much less than over the land } The latter increase on this continent :. as well as in Europe, is nearly 10' , per cent. in about l,600 feet.
 } Whatever the wind direction, sa! 7 the meteorologists, flying at low lev 1, els above the sea would be less dang $ erous than at similar levels above the land because the air above. th 3 sea is less turbulent or "bumpy'.
 i Marine weather maps" said MT l Gregg in q recent paper read befor'
 the Philosophical Society of Wash l ington. show that at an altitude o r 6O0 to 1000 meters t1,65y to 3,20 7 feet, approximately conditions .gt : favorable for an eastward trip ap I proximately one third of the time Il the percentage being slightly Sreate e along the northern than along tn n southern route. At greater altitude = the percentage of favorable days ma | terially increases, especially along tn l. northern route, For the WestWar e trip the percentage of favorable days l : 50 small as to make trans -Atlanti = flight in this direction inpracticabl t until the cruising radius aircrat t increased to such an extent that she n are relatively independent of wine e conditions.
 e "Au things considered, condition 2 for an eastward flight are most fav h orable along the northern course; fo
 a westward flight they are most fav l. orable along the southern course; tha 0 is, the prevailing westerlies are les IS persistent along this course tha tt farther north. e There seems to be little choice a $. to season, for although the prevailin t westerles are stronger in Winte g than in summer, yet on the otht u hand, stormy conditions are lnol 4e prevalent in winter, and the net re 5s suit is about an equal percentage le favorable days in the two season III Moreover, the greater fog percentas 'r in summer just about offsets Il II greater percentage of cloudineSS a winter Fog is a disadvantage chief Id because of it's interference in makin m observations with drift indicator ld The Newfoundland fogs in general al 'e of small vertical extent and do n' 1T extend far inland.
 They should not, therefore, prove