194 



NATURE 



[October 6, 192 1 



International Meteorological Committee. 



T^HE first meeting, for general purposes, of the 

 -*■ International Committee appointed by the Con- 

 ference of Directors of Meteorological Institutes and 

 Observatories held in Paris in 19 19, in continuation of 

 the committees which have organised international 

 meteorology from the Congress of Vienna in 1873, 

 was held during the week September 12-17 *" 

 London. Those attending as members were Sir 

 Napier Shaw (president), M. A. Angot (vice- 

 president), Prof. E. van Everdingen (secretary), Col. 

 F. A. Chaves, Director Hesselberg, Comdt. Jaumotte, 

 Dr. Maurer, and Capt. Ryder ; as presidents of com- 

 missions, Prof. Bjerknes (Bergen), of the Commis- 

 sion for the Study of the Upper Air; Col. E. Gold, 

 of the Commission for Weather Telegraphy ; and Col. 

 Saconney, of the Commission for Aerial Navigation ; 

 and, as savants whose assistance would be useful in 

 the deliberations of the committee, Col. Delcambre, 

 Dr. Gorczynski, Col. Matteuzzi, Dr. Melander, Prof. 

 T. Okada, Dr. G. C. Simpson, Dr. A. Wall^n, Dr. 

 S. Fujiwhara, and Mr. L. F. Richardson. 



The business opened with the election of two 

 members of the committee — Director Wall^n, of 

 Sweden, to fill the sixteenth place, which was left vacant 

 at Paris, and Prof. T. Okada, of Tokyo, in succes- 

 sion to Prof. Nakamura, of the same institute, re- 

 signed. It concluded with the election of Col. Del- 

 cambre, Director of the Office M^t^orologique National 

 of France, and Dr. G. C. Simpson, Director of the 

 Meteorological Office, London, to the places vacated 

 at the end of the meeting by M. Alfred Angot, Direc- 

 teur honoraire du Bureau Central M^t^orologique, and 

 by Sir Napier Shaw, now professor of meteorology 

 in the Royal College of Science, under the rule which 

 requires the sixteen (ultimately twenty) members of 

 the committee to belong to different countries and to 

 be directors of independent meteorological institutions. 



Apologies for absence were received from Prof. 

 Eginitis, of Athens; Mr. H. A. Hunt, of Melbourne; 

 Prof. Nakamura, of Tokyo ; Prof. Palazzo, of Rome ; 

 Sir Frederick Stupart, of Toronto; and Dr. G. T. 

 Walker, of Simla. 



The chief business of the meeting was to receive 

 reports from the commissions for special departments 

 of meteorological work. Of these, two — namely, the 

 Commission for the Study of the Upper Air and the 

 Commission for the Meteorology of the Polar Regions 

 — had met in Bergen in the last week of July of this 

 year. The Commission for Weather Telegraphy had 

 held a meeting in London in November of last year 

 to formulate new codes for the transmission of in- 

 formation, from land stations and from ships respec- 

 tively, in pursuance of certain provisions of the Peace 

 Treatv. That commission held further meetings in 

 the week ending September 10 of this year for the 

 discussion of details in the light of experience already 

 obtained. In the same week meetings were held of 

 the Commission for Maritime Meteorology, for Aerial 

 Navigation, and a joint meeting of the three com- 

 missions concerned with the speedy transmission of 

 meteorological information was held to consider points 

 of common interest. Meetings of the Commission for 

 Reseau Mondial were also held. 



The chief recommendations discussed were : — (i) By 

 the Commission for the Study of the Upper Air, invit- 

 ing observations of the upper air from land and sea 

 and proposing to resuscitate the practice of preparing 

 and issuing an international publication of the results 

 for the upper air contributed by the various countries, 

 and to obtain subventions for the purpose of pro- 

 viding for the cost of compilation and editing, as 



NO. 2710, VOL. 108] 



well as of printing and distributing. The total 

 annual sum required was estimated at 4000Z. sterling. 

 (2) By the Commission for Weather Telegraphy, set- 

 ting out an agreed code for land stations and, jointly 

 with the Commissions for Maritime Meteorology and 

 Aerial Navigation, two alternative codes for ships at 

 sea, between which a selection should be ultimately 

 made so that one form of message shall become 

 universal. (3) By the Commission for Maritime 

 Meteorology, proposing suitable co-operation for the 

 collection of oceanographical data. The formulation 

 of the codes and the approach to a final solution of 

 the questions involved are a matter for warm con- 

 gratulation. 



The Commission for the Rdseau Mondial recorded 

 its thanks for the volumes which the British Meteoro- 

 logical Office had already published, and expressed a 

 desire for their continuance. At the same time the 

 question of daily charts for the globe was raised, and 

 Col. Matteuzzi urged the daily issue of reports of pilot- 

 balloons with the object of obtaining a general view 

 of the streams of air. 



On the initiative of Col. Delcambre, a new com- 

 mission was set up for the further study of clouds ; 

 and on the initiative of Col. Saconney it was recom- 

 mended that rewards should be offered for valuable ob- 

 servations, notes, or photographs spontaneously con- 

 tributed by aviators and others. 



Prof. Okada, on behalf of Prof. Nakamura, urged 

 the industrial and economic, as well as the scientific, 

 importance of a speedy publication by all institutes 

 of a summary of the weather month by month. 



Some time was devoted to the question of the 

 application of meteorologv' to agriculture, arfd the 

 commission appointed at Paris for that study was en- 

 larged by the addition of a number of names of 

 experts on the agricultural or biological side of the 

 various subjects involved. It was also decided that 

 application of the study of weather to forestry should 

 be included. 



The report of the Polar Commission dealt with the 

 provision that had been made at Obispo,' Spitsbergen, 

 Bear Island, Jan Mayen, Lerwick, and in northern 

 Canada and elsewhere, for geophysical investigations 

 during Amundsen's proposed drift across the Pole. 

 It was decided to unite the Polar Commission with 

 the Commission du Roseau Mondial. Dr. Simpson 

 was appointed president of the united commission. 



At the meeting on September 15 Col. F. A. Chaves, 

 of the Azores, well known to all meteorologists for 

 his enthusiasm for the subject, announced that the 

 Portuguese Government had appointed Sir Napier 

 Shaw, M. Angot, and Prof. E. van Everdingen to the 

 dignity of Commander of the Order of Santiago da 

 Espada in recognition of their services to international 

 meteorology, and that he expected to be able to present 

 the insignia on behalf of his Government before the 

 close of the meeting. 



When the general business of the meeting was con- 

 cluded, and after the completion of the number of 

 sixteen members, it became necessary to hold a meet- 

 ing of the reconstituted committee in order to_ make 

 appointments to the presidency and vice-presidency, 

 which had become vacant by the retirement of Sir 

 Napier Shaw and M. Angot. By a unanimous vote of 

 the committee Sir Napier Shaw was invited, and con- 

 sented, to act as president until the conference in 1923. 

 Prof. E. van Everdingen was elected vice-president, 

 and Dr. Hesselberg, Director of the Meteorological 

 Institute, Christiania, secretary. 



It was agreed, on the invitation of Prof. E. van 



