Evening star., 1926-06-03

pared much care was taken {" prevent
fog making il a failure.
Cant. AmnndSen has already pointed
ont that over the Arctic regions the
Summer months of June, July and
August are very foggy.
The whole ocean IN This season is
covered with ice. though The tempera-
ture docs not rise above the freezing
point. Throughout tho summer.
therefore. the ground will remain cold
aud the ice Will naturally cool down
the Air arriving from southern and
warmer regions. BY this cooling a
part of the humidity will fall as fog.
In the Spring there is almost n"
fog, since no such rea son for it's form
ins exists. The ideal time for tran rs
polar flight would have been the end
of April. but as the shed in klnCs BAY
was not ready at this time We had to
POSTPONE the start To the first part of
May.
Radio Weather Service Arranged.
We have now seen in how many
different ways the weather can inter
fere with an airShip's flight. 1t was,
therefore. of the highest. importance
to arrange the flight from Rome TO
Ala ska in such n WAY that the mete-
able as possible.
We had To he able to choose the
hest time for starting from each
place where we landed We also had
to establish q wireless service that
during the flight could furnish the
meteoro1oSist on board tho ship with
all the infol'ma ion that could he use
full to him when he had to find the
hest route for 1ying over tho different
countries which the airship had to
pass on her way.
This work would have been imros
sihle To carr ont II the expedition
had not got the friendliest valua bio
assistance everywhere It addressed
the official weather bureaus. This
was especially the case in Norway.
where the expedition got the assist
ance ofs the complete Meteorological
Institute.
The director of that institute AT
Hessleherc took upon himself the
hard work Of orCa niZing the weather
service for the immense distance We
had TO roler from Rome to Alaska,
assisted by the met eorolo;~st of the
expedition. Maalgren. The plan was
that the start from all the landing
places should he fixed according to
the forecasts of the local weather
bureaus.
system Worked Out on Ship.
During the flight \ met eorolnc ical
service was esta ahlished on board the
shin. The same meteorological teIe
grams broa dcast by the various sta
tionS that are used hv all countries
in Europe were also received by the
Norce's wireless. They allowed the
meteorological on board to draw synop
Sical weather maps from which he
could make the necessary foreca sts.
But besides these ordinary teie
grams II was NJ great import nee to
have additional ones adopted for the
expedition. Thus it was of hig in
terest 10 he informed in sufficient
time before the ship landed how the
weather was AT the landing place.
For some parts Of the way. therefore,
special arrangements We're made for
the benefit Of the expedition.
Telegrams We're sent to the wireless
station on board directly from the
landing place which the ship was. ar-
preaching. In some places the ship
received such te1ecrams even every
hour and in some cases the expedition
succeeded in obtaining the necessary
information by directly calling up the
various stations without having made
any special arrangements.
Aided by Italian Friends and British.
So long as the ship flew over r;u
rope. all went after the plan. From
Italy to England we had the good
assistance Of the Italian and French
and especially the British meteorolo-
, sists. The weather bureau in Lon
don had esta blished special service
for the expedition at the aerodome in
Pulham and the same institute as
sist ed the expedition to fix the start.
ing day for flying from Pulham to
Oslo.
Some hours after we had started
from Pulham, we received the first
kilograms from the Meteorological In
stitute in Oslo that from the moment
took over the service. 1t was also
this institute that advised the eXpedi
tion so that in good time 1t left Oslo
! and II gave also to the expedition the
| necessary information during the trip
from Oslo to Gatchina.
The ship stayed for three weeks
at this place because some trouble
at Kings Bay made 1t impossible to
start from Russia. 4.
Many people, and feven technical