NORTH POLE OF THE WINDS 



calcium-hydride into water enclosed in a metal 

 gasometer, where the hydrogen gas is at once gen- 

 erated and led into the balloon. The lifting power 

 of the balloon is measured by a specially con- 

 structed scale so that the balloon rises in the air at 

 the nearly uniform rate of 180 meters per minute. 

 At the end of each minute during the ascent the 

 direction of the balloon from its starting point is 

 fixed by reading two angles on the theodolite in the 

 field of which the balloon is always kept focused 

 at the center. In this way the path which is 

 traveled by the balloon as it rises is determined and 

 the force and direction of the wind obtained for 

 each level until the balloon passes into a cloud or 

 fades into the distance. 



From July 2nd, 1926, when the first balloon 

 run was made at our camp on the Maligiakf jord, 

 one and often two or three ascents were made on 

 each fair day, so that in all more than 90 ascents by 

 pilot balloons were studied. As had been foreseen, 

 the amphitheatre of rock within which our camp 

 had been set up, was not favorable for our balloon 

 work. The balloons at first rose from their ini- 

 tial position up so steep a course that the 

 angles could not be read upon the instrument until 

 a simple finder had been added by Mr. Fergusson, 

 but as soon as the balloon had risen above the level 



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