Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-01
u. S. Geodetic Survey Will
Re.estabIish Institution for
Scientific Work.
HOPE TO CHECK EARTH
MOVEMENT EACH DAY
Old Unit Will Cooperate With
Three Other Widely Sep
arated Stations.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The North Pole will not stay at home.
The United States Geodetic Survey Is
to re-establish at Gaithersburg, Md,
one of four observatories scattered over
| the world to find out why the top of
| the earth goes wandering in the Arctic
| nights, carrying with 1t the parallels
| Of latitude and causing an astronomical
mess, Maj. William Bowie of the Coast
and Geodetic Survey told the American
Geophysical Union meeting here today.
The parallels Of latitude, Maj. Bowie
said, stray as much as so feet from
| where they should be from the positions
| Of the stars by which they are deter
| mined. It Is not known whether this
\ Is because the position of the earth
| changes in space from time to time,
changing the theoretical position of the
Pole. or whether the boreal point itself
! changes within the earth.
Three stations now in operation are
| at Ukiah, Calf; at Carleforte, an is
| land of the coast Of Sardinia, and at
Mususiwa, Japan. An observatory at
Gaithersburg was opened in 1900, but
closed in 1914 when the war interfered
with the work Of other stations. It
VIII be reopened and one observer sta
! toned there, Maj. Bowie said, because
! 1t Is almost directly on the opposite
side Of the earth from the Japanese
station, so that the comparative records
Will pc valuable.
All in Same Latitude.
If the earth itself tits In space, he
explained, 1t would shift the latitude at
Gaithersburg few feet in one direction
and the latitude at the japanese station
| the same distance In the opposite direc-
| ton. II this does not happen the cause
| must be sought in the earth itself.
All the stations are In latitude 39.8.
Observations will be taken each night
on the same stars from each of them.
| An explanation Of the changing of
the parallels by tides raised by the
moon on the earth's surface was pre-
sented by DR.. Harlan T. Stetson, d.
rector of the Perkins Observatory at
Ohio Wesleyan University. Working
partly with the old Gaithersburg OBJ
servationS and those at Ukiah, he
found that the latitude positions cor
related with the positions of the moon.
The observed changes, he said, are due
to actual shifts in the earth's crust as
the result OF the gravitational pull Of
the moon on the earth. This pull Is
exerted in different directions as the
moon changes its position. This theory,
DR.. Stetson said, supports the latest
theories Of biologists that the earth's
crust, far from being solid. rests on a
mobile basalt layer OVERLAPPING the
nickel-iron core of the earth itself. If
the theory holds up, 1t will be necessary
| for astronomers to correct their cal
| culations, depending on the exact posi-
ton Of the moon.
Sea Runs Uphill.
! There Is increasing evidence, Mai.
Bowie said in reporting the present
! status Of geodesy, that the sea in the
Northern Hemisphere runs uphill toward
| the North Pole. Galveston, Tex, Is con-
| sidered as absolute sea level for North
| America. There Is q continual in
crease, as shown by beach marks, north
ward along the Atlantic Coast. The
Pacific, whose mean sea level Is 2 feet
higher than the Atlantic, also slants
upward. It Is probable, DR.. Bowie said,
that the southern oceans also slope up
! hill toward the South Pole. The same
slant found on the American sea coast
also has been reported from England,
France, Russia and Japan.
The most probable explanation of
the sea level increase northward, he
said, Is that 1t Is due to the average
barometric pressure or weight Of air
resting upon the water, the direction
of prevailing winds effecting the tides
and the differences In salinity and tenn
perature of the ocean, which changes
| the weight Of the water.
Due largely to the interest Of Presi-
dent Hoover Maj. Bowie said, a comlete
duced in the next Is years. The Federal
budget for geodetic work, he explained,
was increased this year to $316, 1924, from
| $88, 900 the previous year. This will per-
! NIT about 1900 miles of triangulation
work this year. The completed first and
second order Inauguration, he said, win
cost between 100000 and 100000.
When the work is completed there will
be arcs Of triangulation and lines Of
leveling every so miles, and it will be
possible to locate exactly in space any
point in the United States.
Explains Four Season Change.
A proposal for changing the four
seasons, to consist of 13 weeks each, so
that the middle day Of each will fall on
an astronomical event-the Winter and
Summer solstices and the vernal and
autumnal equinoXes-waS explained by
Prof. Charles F. Marvin, chief of the
United States Weather Bureau. This
would facilitate international statistical
work, he explained, and would make the
week more convenient time unit for
scientific work.
For most Of the temperate zone 1t
would place Spring In the middle of
Winter and Winter In the middle of
Autumn. Winter would always start on
November for the whole world, SO
that the central day, December II,
would fall exactly with the Winter
solstice. 1t would end and Spring be-
gin February 4 so that the middle day,
March a., would correspond with the
vernal equinox. Ordinary weather con-
ditions in the temperate zone, he said,
would vary about month from this
arbitrary calendar.
DR.. William j. Humphreys Of the
Weather Bureau insisted that the sea-
sons as they now are dated probably
are too firmly fixed in agriculture and
in the traditions Of the people to be
easily discarded for scientific con-
venience.
Two celebrated polar explorers, Sir
Hubert wilkins and H. U. Sverdrup,
attended the Geophysical Union meet
ings today. wilkins tomorrow would
explain his project for a voyage BY
submarine under the Arctic ice to the
North Pole. Sverdrup, famous Nor.
wegian Arctic explorer, will detail plans
for a world project Of Arctic explora-
ton In 1928