( 83 ) 



layers can he acconnled for by I he influeiu'e of radiation, conden- 

 sation and evaporation. 



The dislribiilion of lenij)eralnre found in (liis way, is satisfactorily 

 in agreement with the one found by Teisskhknc de Bout, but dis- 

 agrees considerably with that which was formerly determined by 

 Glaisher. 



3'■'^ The diurnal variation of temperature has at a height of 2500 

 M. shrunk down to less than 7io of its amplitude at the surface of 

 the earth. 



Of the annual variation of temperature the am[)litude decreases 

 rapidly in the lowest layer of 500 M. Higher on it is rather 

 a retardation of the maximum and minimum of temperature than 

 a decrease of amplitude, which is still obvious. At a height of 

 4000 M the highest and lowest temperatures seem to occur about 

 the middle of September and March. 



The non-periodical changes of temperature in the higher layers 

 are hardly less intensive than at the surface of the earth. 



4^^\ Frequently low, but also sometimes higher in llic atmosphere, 

 there are layers in which the temperature increases instead of 

 decreasing with the height. "Inversions" to an amount of even 16"C. 

 have been observed. 



Not seldom there are also layers, in which the temperature in 

 rising diminishes more rapidly than would answer to the convective 

 equilibrium. It is very remarkable that these layers, which obviously 

 tend to provoke a state of unstability in the atmosphere, are often 

 of a great thickness, reaching even 2500 meter, for instance. 



5'^^ . In accordance wdth results which Hann came to in the Alps, 

 it has appeared that above Middle-Europe, both in winter and in 

 summer, the temperatures at equal heights in anticyclones are in 

 general higher than in cyclones — this, at least, holding good for heights 

 up to 8 KM. This result tends to corroborate the conviction of most 

 meteorologists that the cyclones with their ascending and the anti-cyclones 

 with their descending currents of air cannot as a rule simply owe 

 their existence to differences of temperatui'e. l>y still more recent 

 investigations it has appeared that the rate of decrease of temi)erat ure 

 above the anticyclones, though at tirst smaller, is at greater heights 

 greater than the above cyclones, so that it remains possible that in 

 the very high layers of the atmosphere the temperature above the 

 anticyclones is lower than above the cyclones. 



6^'' . In most of the cases several layers of a quite difFerent natuie 

 and origin were clearly indicated in the atmosjjhere. 



7'''. In rising, the moisture of the atmosphere generally decreases 



