3IO 



NA rURE 



[May 13, iQr o 



CLOUD PHOTOGRAPHS FROM A BALLOON. 



THE two photographs which accompany this short 

 note were taken during a balloon trip com- 

 mencing at Battersea and terminating at Hadlow, 



Fig. I. — Cloud scenery from ballo 



elevation of 5S00 feet. Photographed by Dr. 



Lockyer. 



mountains or of the sea with snow-capped hills for ihi; 

 coast-line. 



If one regarded this fine panorama in the same 

 azimuth as the sun, the effect of contrast was most 

 striking. The billowy cumuli were outlined in bril- 

 liant white, while the 

 portions turned towards 

 one were of intense black- 

 ness, and afforded a fine 

 background for the sun- 

 beams passing over the 

 cloud tops. In other direc- 

 tions the cloudscape ex- 

 hibited beautifully soft 

 effects. 



The first of the two 

 photographs here shown 

 (Fig. i) was taken at 

 ih. 33m. p.m., when the 

 balloon was nearly over 

 ("rookham, at an altitude 

 of 5800 feet, or a little 

 more than a mile high. 

 The camera was directed 

 nearly horizontally, and 

 I he balloon was only 

 .ibout 800 feet above the 

 cloud tops. In this, one 

 can observe the sea-like 

 11,1 ture of the stratus 

 cloud, bordered by the 

 tops of the cumulus 

 clouds, suggesting an 

 .\rctic scene. 



The second photograph 

 (Fig. 2) was taken later. 



near Buxted, in Surrey, on February 6 of the present I ;it ih. 50m. p.m., at an altitude of 6700 feet, or about 



year. a mile and a quarter. The balloon was then over 



Leaving the ground at i2h. 24m. p.m., the wind, or | the neighbourhood of Claydene, and the camera was 



what there was of it, gradu- 

 ally took the balloon away 



in a direction a little east 



of south. There were thick, 



heavy cumulus clouds hang- 

 ing over London at the 



time, and between them 



one beheld the sea of 



houses below. At ih. 3m. 



p.m., at an altitude of 4000 



feet, we became fairly en- 

 veloped in one of these 



clouds, and some minutes 



later, at an altitude of 5200 



feet, we emerged from its 



top out into the brilliant 



sunshine. The heat of the 



sun acting on the gas in 



the envelope gradually ex- 

 panded it, and we rose to 



our greatest altitude of the 



day — namely, 7300 feet, or 



about 14 miles, reaching 



this elevation at 2h. 12m. 



p.m. 



From the time the 



balloon was above the 



clouds the panorama was a 



glorious one to behold. 



The billowy tops of the 



cumuli stood out as white 



as snow in the sunshine. 



In the interspaces between the cloud masses there | pointed slightly down from the horizontal and in the 



was present thin stratus cloud, which sometimes same azimuth as the sun. This photograph shows 



gave the appearance of lakes between snow-capped | the great expanse of the billowy cloud tops and 

 NO. 2063, \'OI.. So] 



-Cloud ! 



I balloon at 



aphed by Dr. 



Lockyer. 



