Evening star., 1946-11-10
Arctic Weather Stations Viewed
AS Stronq Influence for Peace
Wilkins Helps Droft
PIons for Nations to
Cooperate on Work
By Hermon F. Schoden

BY Herman F. Schdden
Capricious weather-the thing mo-
body. ever does anything about
Is on the way to becoming strong
force for international understand
ing and a bastion of peace.
The Weather Bureau is moving
toward International negotiations
for establishment of weather report
ing stations in the bleak Arctic.
Eventually the bureau may be
able to fit into the weather jig-saw
puzzle that missing piece in the far
North.
Perhaps it will be only a start, the
establishment of four or five sta
tionss scattered over 1,200-mile
expanse, but some day it may save
the United States billions OF dollars
in crops and hundreds of lives.
Hubbard Is Key Man.
Congress flashed the green light
last February IL with an enabling
act for United States participation
in Arctic weather stations on an
international basis.
oLlC VI VIC IilCll VI NioioaA SCAAAAA
the congressional act was Charles j.
Hubbard, tall, powerful man who
has made the bitter northlands his
summer home for the last IS years.
AS head of the Weather Bureaus
new Arctic section. he is nominated
to plug up the gap in the weather
map.
In the sub-Arctic and Arctic
regions ranging from Greenland
through the Canadian islands are
vast areas from which emanate
frigid masses of air. When these
masses move toward this country,
the Weather Bureau is handicapped
in predicting their effect.
Sir Hubert Consultant.
Scientists like Sir Hubert wilkins,
famed Arctic explorer, have visual
ized such improvement in forecast
ing that weathermen could predict
days in advance the approach of
storms and billiards.. Thus might
be saved fruit crops in California.
cattle on the western plains, and
human lives which might be lost in
an unpredictable storm.
Sir Hubert recently has served as
consultant to the Weather Bureau
In its Arctic program.
Sir Hubert began his work years
ago, urged on by the memory of a
drought that devastated his family's
farm in Australia He was one of
those who, more than Is years ago.
saw the need of q network of
weather reporting stations in the
Arctic and Anarctic.
In 1919 he asked Marconi, in
ventor of the wireless, when 1t would
be possible to communicate quickly
between any points in the world.
Told it would be another 20 or 80
years, Sir Hubert was satisfied. He
thought it would take that long to
locate sites for the weather sta
tions.
Russia Cooperating.
Now the sudden emergence of in
ternational air transportation, plus
the growing demands for longer
range forecasts, has convinced far
sighted men the time has come for
plugging the gap in the weather
map.
Mr.. Hubbard and Sir Hubert are
among those who visualize Arctic
weather service as boon TO inter-.
natfonal relations. Even now Russ
sia and the United States exchange
weather information.
= The icy polar cap may one day
be the crossroads of the world. The
ultimate of meteorology is q world
weather service, dependent on CO.
operation of all the nations. This
cooperation would have to start
in the Arctic regions.
AS seen by Sir Hubert, the per-
lection of long range weather fore
casting may some day be great
world stabilizer. Man could plot
his economy accordingly: fear and
anxiety for self-preservation would
be greatly reduced.
u. N. Committee Sought.
These men who have lived dam
gerously in the North strongly feel
the necessity for a United Nations
Meteorological Committee to steer
the worldwide weather plan.
Some weathermen believe 80 or
more stations in the Arctic, score
or so in the Anarctic and many in
the Pacific. will be necessary before
a working network is achieved.
The system may work something
like this: Weather observation sta
tions in the Arctic dispatch data to
collecting stations in the sub-Arctic.
This and other information is for
warded to central stations at such
points as Washington and Toronto.
World 'co-ordinating stations would
round up information from both
hemispheres at such points as Lon
don, Tokyo, Melbourne, Washing
ton and Buenos Aires.
As early as 1921 Arctic reporting
stations were proposed before mete-
orlogical societies. But man still
was depending largely on horizontal
observations.
In the last decade Radiosonde was
introduced. 1t is device for meas
uring atmosphere at high attitudes.
More recently the Rawin, working
on an eFectronic principle, has pro-
vided way for gathering atmos-
pheric information at levels be-
yond cloud coyerage.