NO. 12 MOUNT ST. KATHERINE STATION ABBOT 3 



struments, almost, indeed, adequate to observe the solar constant of 

 radiation, and they spent weeks and even months in observing at 

 some of the more promising stations. In this way they visited the 

 Cape Verde Islands, many peaks in South-West Africa, and finally 

 Mount St. Katherine, about lo miles from Mount Sinai in Egypt, 

 having an altitude of about 8,500 feet. No station visited proved as 

 promising as the last mentioned. Mr. and Mrs. Moore observed there 

 on about 100 days during the months of March, April, May, June, 

 and July, 1932. As a result I was convinced that Mount St. Katherine 

 had a fair chance of proving to be nearly as satisfactory as Montezuma 

 in Chile for solar-constant observations. 



With further support from Mr. Roebling, and with the generous 

 gift from the National Geographic Society of the apparatus which 

 had formerly been installed at Mount Brukkaros, Mount St. Katherine 

 was occupied in the summer of 1933, and regular observations of the 

 solar constant of radiation were begun there in December 1933. 



It is a pleasure to acknowledge the great aid received and the 

 cordial relations which have prevailed at all times with His Eminence 

 Porphyrios III, Archbishop of Mount Sinai, and with the monks of 

 St. Katherine's Monastery, under his direction, on Mount Sinai. 

 During Mr. and Mrs. Moore's reconnaissance, the monks placed an 

 existing structure on Mount St. Katherine at the disposal of these 

 observers and brought them supplies. When a permanent occupation 

 was undertaken, the authorities of the Monastery built the observa- 

 tory and living quarters of stone on Gebel Zebir, a spur of Mount 

 St. Katherine, built trails, and developed water. They still continue 

 to transport supplies to the station from the Red Sea, and are helpful 

 in uncounted ways. 



The station was built, equipped, and occupied under the supervi- 

 sion of Harlan H. Zodtner, our field director, assisted by Frederick A. 

 Greeley. Mrs. Zodtner and their two children accompany Mr. Zodt- 

 ner, and she makes a home for the expedition. 



Plates I and 2 show the inhospitable mountain site, and the build- 

 ings erected by the authorities of the Monastery for the instruments 

 and observers. 



Records of the observations made from December 1933 to April 

 1935 have now been reduced under the direction of my colleague, 

 L. B. Aldrich. A short method similar to those in use at our stations 

 Montezuma and Table Mountain was developed by him for St. Kath- 

 erine. Also some improvement based on additional observations has 

 recently been made by him in the reduction tables for Montezuma, 

 and more correct new values, differing by a few thousandths of a 



