Evening star., 1951-03-07
Sea Level Found Rising
Along American Coasts
Studies at Tide Stations
Confirm Mysterious Shifts
By Thomos R. Henry

Sea level is rising mysteriously on both
the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of North
America.
This has been confirmed by a special
committee of the American Geophysical
Institute headed by DR.. G. P. Woodland
of the University of Wisconsin. It is
based on observations taken constantly
for the past few years at "a tide stations
on the Atlantic Coast, Is on the Pacific
Coast and 10 in the Gulf of Mexico
region. Apparently the rise started as
early as 1929 but has been difficult to
confirm without long series of observa-
tions.
From the Gulf to Boston, the commit
tee reports, the rise has been constant
at a rate of .02 of foot year. This
rate decreases north of Boston.
Rise Less on West Coast.
Along the Pacific Coast from Panama
to Seattle the rise has been little more
than tenth of this, but it has been
equally constant over the years. North
OF Seattle it drops off rapidly until it
disappears completely in Alaskan waters.
The committee is at loss to explain
the phenomenon which, If it continues,
might become of considerable signifi-
canoe over the next century One sug-
gestion offered is that there has been
considerable warping of the floors of the
oceans. Another is that the rise is due
entirely to meteorological conditions
which have affected ocean currents.
detailed report on the work now is
being prepared at the United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey
The same committee is gathering
records of the variation of gravity over
the North American continent, the ex-
tension OF gravity anomalies on the
continental shelves and their possible
extension into other continents
Enormous showers Of protons, the
nuclei of hydrogen atoms. lombard the
earth at great speeds. They play some
part in the still not fully understood
phenomenon of the aurora borealis.
This has been reported to the Ameri-
can Geophysical Union by DR.. c. w.
Gartlain of Cornell University one Of
the country's foremost experts On au-
roral displays.
The finding is based on simultaneous
observation of an auroral arc last Sep
tember at Ithaca. N. Y, and Arnprior.
Ontario. Stations were about $50 miles
apart and observations were at different
angles.
Speed Put at 900 M.P.H.
The observations showed that in the
auroral area, perhaps 200 or more miles
high. great tides of hydrogen were
sweeping toward the earth at max
imum speed of more than 900 miles an
hour. The nature of the spectrum
showed that this influx must be from
outside the earth's atmosphere Other
considerations proved that the incoming
hydrogen atoms must be stripped Of
their outer electrons, so that each would
consist Of a single proton.
The presence of hydrogen in the
auroral zones has long been well known,
but in the past it has been considered
that the appearance of it's characteristic
light lines in the spectra was due to
bombardment of gas naturally present
in the high atmosphere by emanations
from the sun.
These observations indicate that there
may be rather small but constant re-
Punishment of this planets supply of
hydrogen from the sun.
The lightest of elements, hydrogen
presumably constituted greater part Of
the earth's atmosphere in the beginning,
but it has been escaping into space.
atom by atom. for the last billion
years.