Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-23

when he died He knows what to expect-those
bitter-cold, treacherouS billiards which seem
to spring suddenly without warning from the
desolate wastes and make flying the most haz-
ardous means Of exploration. But the airplane
saves much precious time and Is less fatiguing,
less arduous than dogsled travel by which it
would take many, many years to accomplish
his purpose. wilkins is determined to uncover
the mysteries of the Antarctic by air, map its
geography and plan for future meteorological
stations as quickly as possible, in order that
the world may have better weather prognoStica-
tons For seven years it has been the dream
of his life and he is willing to enter the very
jaws of death, If need be, in order to see it
realized.
"There must be pioneers to establish Arctic
and Antarctic air paths, just as there were
pioneers in the early days of the development Of
the United States" Sir Hubert explained. "For
many years it has been q theory-one advanced
by an ancestor of mine in 1643-that we
knew something about polar conditions and
could collect observations from those ATTITUDES.
we might be able to forecast seasonal changes.
That ancestor was James Wilkins, Bishop Of
Chester, in England. He proposed to the Royal
Society of London an investigation Of the polar
regions. He wrote two books about flying,
forecast the submarine and predicted machine
age Yet he died of broken heart bounded
from his bishopric as one who delved in WITCH
craft. believe that am simply taking UP my
heritage and carrying on.
To-day radio makes it possible and aircraft
travel makes it necessary that nations collect
weather data in the greatest Storm-breeding
area in the world and correlate it with data
from other ATTITUDES in order to forecast meteor
illogical conditions with reasonable accuracy.
With the era of transpolar flying almost upon
us, it is of vital Importance that the air pilot
of the future be advised far in advance of
weather conditions, not only along his route,
but also throughout the world and particularly
at high attitudes so that he may take proper
advantage of favorable air currents.
"The Arctic Ocean is a small mediterranean
body surrounded by variety of conditions. 1t
is covered by only thin blanket of ice averag-
ing no more than IS feet thick, and the bulk
of the ice in the Arctic is comparatively small
In the Antarctic we get an exactly opposite
condition. We get continental area covered
we estimate, with ice that has been nearly 5000
feet thick, but which today is not more than
1900 feet thick.
MANY meteorologists believe that the influ-
ence of that ice on the ocean currents is the
greatest factor in determining seasonal condi-
tons in the Southern Hemisphere. We hope
to establish seven stations on the edge Of that
continental area and five Sub-Antarctic islands
and from these stations collect simultaneous
observations and submit them for correlation
with observations taken in the Arctic, and so
get a comprehensive idea of the meteorology
of the world
'In working out the business arrangements
for that plan in the Antarctic, we estimate
that the total cost for a period of 10 years
which time 1t will require-will be more than
$1O,0000O0 That sounds like a great sum to
spend for meteorology but when you consider
that 1t is over a period of 10 years and Is to
7o8 AGContinued on Twenty second Page