The Upper Air 101 
United States, making the ascension in Philadelphia in the 
presence of George Washington, and landing at Woodbury, 
New Jersey. 
Many balloon ascents were made for the purpose of obtain- 
ing meteorological data about the upper air. Even today the 
airplane has not completely replaced the balloon for meteoro- 
logical work. Accounts of early balloonists are worth reading. 
One American aeronaut, a John Wise, was about to make a 
rash attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a free balloon, 
but fortunately for him, his balloon burst while being filled. 
Another tale, with a more tragic ending, occurred in 1897 
when Salomon Andree, with two companions, ascended at 
Spitsbergen in hope of reaching the North Pole. As might 
be expected, nothing more was heard from them except for 
_a few messages picked up in sealed bottles found floating in 
the sea. In 1930 Andree’s remains plus a few photographs 
were found on White Island by a whaler. 
Modern attempts to reach the highest altitude record have 
been more scientifically prepared. Nevertheless they have 
often ended with the unexpected, in a sudden pee 
through space. 
THE TWO BIG DIVISIONS OF THE AIR 
We live at the bottom of a great ocean of air. The air is 
usually divided into two layers: (1) the troposphere, the air 
in which we live, up to a height of about 6 miles, and (2) 
the stratosphere, the very thin cold air layer that is above 
the troposphere and extends up to about 300 miles. Since 
the troposphere is only 6 miles thick and the stratosphere is 
300 miles thick it is evident that the volume of the former is 
considerably less than that of the latter. However the total 
amount of air in the troposphere is really much greater than 
