22 BLAIR— EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR [March s. 



Five men besides the writer are engaged in the work of obtaining 

 and reducing the records and in studying the resulting data. Duties 

 are so arranged that these men take turns at outdoor as well as 

 indoor work. In this way the work itself furnishes most of the 

 physical recreation needed. None of the routine duties becomes 

 especially irksome and the special lines of work are kept in better 

 relation to each other and to the work as a whole than would be 

 possible under another arrangement. 



Concerning Data and Results. 



The history of upper air work is, as we have seen, a brief one. 

 The Hargrave kite and the sounding balloon are but fifteen years 

 old, and with them began the study of the upper air as it is now 

 carried on. This sort of investigation is comparatively new. The 

 facts already — shall we say "aired" — have been made the subject 

 of considerable comment. They themselves have so far had but 

 little to say. They are cold and, among themselves, somewhat un- 

 sociable facts as yet, but we have become well enough acquainted 

 with them to be certain that they with others yet to be " aired " or 

 " unearthed " constitute a law-abiding community. " Unearthed " 

 is used advisedly, for the energy liberated by the uranium deposits 

 near the earth's surface may prove to be a considerable factor in the 

 origin and development of disturbances occurring in the lower strata 

 of the atmosphere. As a source of the energy displayed in the 

 storms that continually pass over us, this factor has been considered 

 by meteorologists as negligible compared with the energy received 

 from the sun. The heating of the air from this latter source is due 

 to the absorption by it of : (i) The direct rays of the sun, (2) the 

 sun's rays which have been reflected from the earth's surface, and 

 (3) the long heat waves radiated by the earth on account of its 

 being heated by its absorption of the direct rays of the sun. Heat 

 waves sent out by the earth due to other causes, such as radio-active 

 minerals, would be operative in this third subdivision. 



Water vapor absorbs the long heat waves readily and upon its 

 vertical distribution in the atmosphere depends to a great extent the 

 altitude at which their energy becomes effective in heating the air 



