108 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 34 



Since 1882 progress in meteorology and cognate lines of geophysi- 

 cal investigation — though probably less spectacular than in some of 

 the other domains of physical science — has been very great. A vast 

 number of new problems have arisen; the fields of inquiry and ob- 

 servation have grown ever wider — and higher. In 1882-83 none of 

 the expeditions, so far as I know, carried out any upper air work. 

 Their efforts were necessarily confined to surface meteorology. In 

 terrestrial magnetism hourly readings by eye of instruments designed 

 to give the three major elements in the earth's magnetic field were as 

 much as the expeditionary technique of those days allowed. And 

 the description of the state of the sky at each hour covered the 

 demands of the time in auroral observations. 



In recent years, however, meteorologists have been requiring more 

 observations over an increasingly wide area and more detailed data 

 on the characteristics and circulation of the atmosphere up into and 

 beyond the stratosphere. Again, the study of states of disturbance 

 and quiet in the earth's magnetic field has shown that one observatory 

 can no longer be considered representative of a large area of the earth 

 around it; the changes in the magnetic field are fine structured in 

 space as well as in time, so that a close network of magnetic stations 

 equipped with continuously recording instruments is now needed. 

 And for observations in aurora to serve their best purpose in linking 

 up with the associated magnetic disturbance on the one hand and the 

 variations in height and intensity of ionization in the several con- 

 ducting layers of the high atmosphere on the other, precise determi- 

 nations of the position of the aurora in space are required from as 

 many and as widely distributed localities on the earth's surface as 

 possible. 



Thus we see that from all angles of meteorology, terrestrial mag- 

 netism and auroral investigation, a fresh Polar Year program was 

 urgently required on a much more intensified and extensive basis 

 than that of 1882-83. 



The suggestion, put forward by Admiral Dominik of the Deutsche 

 Seewarte, Hamburg, to hold the repetition in 1932-33 — the jubilee 

 year of the First Polar Year — was therefore generally welcomed. 

 An International Commission representative of the meteorological 

 services of many countries was set up to organize the project on a 

 world-wide basis, and national committees were convened to carry out 

 the general recommendations in each separate country. In Britain 

 the national committee had representatives from the Royal Soci- 

 eties of London and Edinburgh and six other interested institu- 

 tions, including the Royal Meteorological and Royal Geographical 

 Societies, Col, Sir Henry Lyons became its chairman and Dr, Simp- 

 son its secretary. Despite the grave financial stringencies of the 

 times, funds to the extent of £10,000 were put at the disposal of the 



