Evening star., 1931-12-19
ANCIENT WEATHER
CLUES IN ROCK AND.
TREES BRING HONOR
DR.. Douglass of Arizona and
DR.. Antevs of Sweden Given
Smithsonian Prizes.
MAY SOLVE CYCLIC
VARIATION PROBLEMS
Bestowal of Awards by Chief JUS
tice Hughes Followed by Re-
search Accounts.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


The weather of the distant past,
recorded in the annual rings in wood
due to tree growth and the annual clay
deposits left by the waters of retreating
glaciers, may give science definite clue
to cyclic variations in the weather of
today.
The developers of these two ancient
calendars" last night received through
the Smithsonian Institution the 1881
Research Corporation prizes of So 500
each. The awards went to Dr. Andrew
Ellicott Douglass of the University Of
Arizona, who has worked out the tree
ring chronology to more than 1000
years before the Christian era, and DR.
Ernst AntevS of the University Of
Stockholm, who developed the clay
varve method Of reading the story of
the distant past.
Following the bestoWal of the awards
by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes,
chancellor of the Smithsonian Institu-
ton, both scientists described their lat
est researches in these fields Both
methods provide an instrument which
science has not had before-an exact
record of the most essential Characters
tics OF weather over vast periods.
weather Cycle Evidences.
DR.. Douglass. who found that the
width OF tree rings varies exactly with
rainfall in given species and a given
location, has analyzed by refined mathe-
matlcal methods approximately $4,000
measures made on Arizona pines and
found evidence Of weather cycles inti-
mately related to the ll-year sunspot
cycle. Nearly the same cycles have re-
Gently been found by DR.. Charles G.
Abbot secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution. in variations of radiation
coming from the sun itself
Eleven appears TO be the key num-
Der IN the variations of the worlds
weather, but the relationship is extraor-
dlnauly complicated. These disturbances
on the surface of the sun known as
SunSpots run the range from minimum
through maximum activity to the start
ing point in II years. The weather
cycles found by DR.. Douglass appear in
the great majority of cases to BE- frac-
tlonS Of two or three times IL years.
The longest tree records were found
in the giant SequoiaS of California. DR..
Douglass has obtained one record which
goes back continuously to 1900 BIC,
four to 100 BIC. and about a dozen
extending without a break to 200 BIC.
pected weather cycle extending for ap-
proximately 100 years. Dr. Abbot has
found approximately the same thing in
the suns radiation. There were other
cycles of halves, thirds, quarters and
flfths OF the double Sun-spot cycle of
% years and months.
Pines Traced to 700 AID.
The records of the Arizona pines
have been extended back in continuous
series, DR., Douglass explained, to TOO
AID. by the aid of beams from pre-
historic ruins. No single tree. of
course. covers any such span, but the
ring chronology can be extended back,
through overlappings from living trees
to the Oldest timbers and bits of
charcoal that can be found. These
pines show long weather cycles of
approximately % and 100 years.
shorter cycles apparently related to
the sun-Spot cycle. and one which
varies between 9 years and months
and l9 years. Still another cycle
found in the tree growth is one of
half the sun-spot period, years and
months
BY means of tree rings in ancient
tipbers, DR.. Douglass announced. it
now has been possible to date exactly
10 prehistoric ruins in the Southwest
ern United States. The tree-rIng
| chronology also gives a clue to the de-
cline OF these sites of ancient culture,
Tor many of them were built just be-
fore the great drought in the latter
part OF the thirteenth century, which
evidently had profound effect on the
welfare Of the inhabitants They them
selves, DR.. Douglass pointed out. evi-
IDENTIFY helped bring about the condl
tlons which led to their downfall by
cutting off woods Every portion of
the tree-ring chronology back to 700
AID. has been covered by many Speci-
mems, DR.. Douglass announced.
Extends Glacier Records.
DR.. Antevs' chronology goes much
| further into the past. He now is en-
gagged in following the history of the
retreat northWard of the last great
glacier which covered most of North
| America as far south as Long Is
land Every Summer this glacier
melted to some extent and the water
flowed into fresh-Water lakes carry
ing with it debris which has been
bound up in the ice. This sank to the
bottom, but the heaviest sank first,
forming a layer, while the lighter par
ticles remained in suspension in the
water all Summer and only went to the
bottom when the water came close to
the freezing point The result was
that each years deposit was marked
off from that of the next year by a
thin strata of different color. The
layers varied in thickness in accord
ance with the temperature OF the Sum
mer and, consequently the amount OF
water released by the heat from the
glacier.
The great glaciers DR.. Antev's studies
show, retreated very slowly. Thus 1t
required approximately 5000 years Tor
it to move northward from the vicinity
of Hartford, Conn, to st. Johnsbury,
vt. approximately $4,000 years was
consumed in the retreat from Long
Island to Northern Quebec. AT the
, start it moved at an average rate OF
about 240 feet year.
The lakes into which the melting
waters flowed long since have dlsap-
peared, the waters filled with deposits.
Their locations are revealed oy ROAD
cuts, by rivers cutting through ancient
sites. etc, When such a location turns
up the clay varves can be measured
with great eXactness.
DR.. Cottrell Paid Tribute.
Before the presentation Of the awards
tribute was paid to Dr. Frederick G.
Cottrell, head of the Fixed Nitrogen
Laboratory of the Department OF Agri-
culture and former director OF the Bu-
reau of Mines, who is responsible Tor
the existence Of the Research Corpora
ton. In 1911 DR.. Cottren and his as
sociates offered their invention Tor the
electrical precipitation OF SUSPENDED
no inloc u,hich had great commercial