MEASUREMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY 
observatories, were introduced everywhere. (For de- 
tails see [62, 72].) 
For investigations of the effect of austausch on at- 
mospheric-electric conditions, a simplified case must 
first be attacked by means of recordings made at alti- 
tudes as high as possible. Such investigations, con- 
ducted at high mountain observatories, promise free- 
dom from changes in the aerosol that, in the lower 
atmospheric layers, are the result of the diurnal varia- 
tion of the vertical mass exchange. We may expect that 
the atmospheric-electric processes in their entirety are 
composed of the interaction of low-level phenomena, 
which proceed according to local time and are caused 
by austausch variations, and of the world-wide syn- 
chronous processes at higher levels. We may also expect 
the transition to occur at an altitude of a few kilometers 
[61, 68]. For preliminary results of pertinent investiga- 
tions see [70]. 
The following experiment appears to be an additional 
promising step in this direction. A program could be 
set up to obtain simultaneous records of atmospheric- 
electric elements at neighboring stations located at dif- 
ferent altitudes. This would offer the possibility of 
observing the gradual upward penetration of the aus- 
tausch effect [67]. 
In this connection, further investigation of the diur- 
nal variations of atmospheric-electric elements in vari- 
ous air masses [64, 66] can be expected to furnish 
criteria of the degree of stability or instability of at- 
mospheric stratification. 
Research in the vicinity of ‘‘generators,” that is, in 
the region of thunderstorms, precipitation, and clouds, 
offers special problems; see, for example, the work by 
Simpson [129, 130]. 
Without doubt, the greatest problem of atmospheric 
electricity is its systematic extension into the third 
dimension, that is, the development of an atmospheric- 
electric aerology with regular determinations of the 
conditions existing in the free atmosphere [65]. Recent 
developments of special methods of measurement suit- 
able for this purpose, such as those by Simpson [131, 
132], Rossmann [107], Gunn [44, 45], and Belin [10], 
furnish the practical means for this extension. 
The exploration of the origin and propagation of 
high-frequency disturbances in the atmosphere (sferics) 
can materially aid weather reconnaissance and analysis 
|4, 5, 88, 113] and can be developed into an integrating 
component of meteorological practice. 
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