Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-02-02

forecast the weather is an amazing tale of
how research in seemingly different directions
will finally mesh into completed whole and
yield knowledge of great value to man.
In their search for the mysterious cosmic
ray scientists have probed from the depths
of the oceans to the top of the atmosphere
Giant balloons like that of Professor Picard
and the Fordney-Settle fight carried men and
instruments up some 900 feet. When this
ceiling" was reached scientists next
manned behind and let small balloons carry
their instruments still higher.
What scientists found was that the incom-
ing cosmic rays were for the most part really
not rays at ALL but electrified particles with
enormous energies Moreover they found
that these initial particles set off tremendous
showers in the atmosphere as they struck
the molecules of gas in the earths atmosphere.
A whole mess of secondary particles and
radiations formed the debris of these COL
lisions between cosmic rays and the molecules
of air in the atmosphere.
Two new kinds of atomic particles have
already been discovered in the melee of cos
mic ray collisions. One is the POSITION "a
particle with the mass of an eectron but
bearing a positive electrical charge. The
other is the mesotron which is about 200
times heavier than an electron and bears
either a positive or negative electric charge.
The important thing - and the reason
why cosmic rays may be used eventually to
forecast the weather-is that the mesotron
is a swiftly-dying particle. 1t lives only
a millionth of a second, during which it may
travel only a few miles through the air. Its
birthplace is high up in the air, just how
high depends on the distribution of the air
masses and their temperature.
Thus when a cold front" of polar air
comes over a cosmic ray station it is found
that the cosmic ray intensity goes up. This
is because the birthplace" of the mesotrons
comes nearer to the earth and more of the
mesotrons hit the detecting instruments
before they die
When a warm front passes by, the birth
place" is higher and fewer mesotrons live"
long enough to hit instruments on earth.
Thus the cosmic ray intensity decreases.
Professor Beardsley studied the day by day
changes in the air over Washington, D. c., and
checked these changes with variations in cos
mic rays received at the city. The total mass
of air over the Nations Capital the baromet-
ric pressure produced Is per cent of the
change in cosmic rays. Worldwide magnetic
changes accounted for 10 per cent and over 40
per cent was produced by the distribution of
the air masses over the city
Thus the same factors which make the
weather the air masses produced the great
est erect on changes IN coSInlc rays.
What has been done for Washington may
some day be the routine for cosmic ray
weather stations all over the Western Hemis-
phere The map on this page shows how such
stations could be arranged in Canada and in
the Caribbean Sea to detect the cold and warm
air masses
The goal of using cosnic rays TO detect
weather changes is not an easy one to accom-
plish. Very careful measurements of magnetic
changes, the barometer, and celebrations of
many individual cosmic ray instruments will
be needed. But the objective would be worth
the cost and effort.
II is not too strong a statement to say
that this newest discovery is the most i'm
portant in the long history of cosmic ray
research from the standpoint Of practical
utility. This article is the first ever written
which explains fully the immense practical
applications of the research.