ABSTRACTS 



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 this issue. 



METEOROLOGY.— Free air data at Mount Weather for April, May and 

 June, 1911. Wm. R. Blair. Bulletin, Mount Weather Observa- 

 tory, 4: 144-181. 1911. 

 Ninety-three free air observations were made at Mount Weather in 

 these three months, 65 by means of kites and 28 by means of captive bal- 

 loons. One pilot balloon observation to the altitude of 2626 meters was 

 made. The kites reached an average altitude of 3257 meters above sea 

 level, the captive balloons, 2072. These observations have been reduced 

 and the data tabulated in connection with weather notes made at the 

 times of observations. Based upon these data charts have been made of 

 the free air isotherms, two degrees apart, for the three months. The air 

 temperatures observed during this period, near the earth's surface on the 

 mountain and in the adjacent valleys, have been charted and discussed. 

 It is concluded that the important factors in the determination of the 

 temperatures observed at a station well out in the bottom of the Shen- 

 andoah valley are insolation and radiation; and that the temperatures 

 observed at a station close to the foot of the mountain on the southeast 

 side are those of air being transferred to and from the mountain top by 

 convection currents. The latter temperatures are comparatively slightly 

 modified by insolation and radiation at the observing station. 



W.R. B. 



METEOROLOGY. — The height and temperature of the isothermal region 

 at different latitudes and under different conditions. W. J. Hum- 

 phreys. Bulletin of the Mount Weather Observatory, 4: 136- 

 142. 1911. 

 The assumption that the height and temperature of the isothermal 

 region are determined essentially by outgoing radiation has but one 

 serious objection. This is, the fact that near the equator, where the 

 surface temperature is highest, the isothermal region is not correspond- 

 ingly warmer than elsewhere, as its winter to summer changes in middle 

 latitudes would lead one to expect, but on the contrary much colder. 



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