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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 825 



of local conditions, but urged that eacli report 

 should fully explain the methods of reduction 

 actually practised. Two changes were made 

 in the European telegraphic daily code mes- 

 sages : (1) three spaces now used by the wet 

 bulb readings were dropped; (2) their places 

 were supplied by figures representing the 

 barometric tendency, that is, the change in the 

 barometric pressure in a three-hour interval. 

 Further arrangements were made for a wire- 

 less service in the important mid-Atlantic re- 

 gion represented by the Azores, so that there 

 shall be a transmission of messages from 

 Porta del Garda and Flores through Horta, 

 to Europe, the United States and Canada. 

 Similarly, the service will be improved from 

 Iceland, Greenland and the Hudson Bay and 

 Straits districts. These North Atlantic data 

 are found valuable in making the weather 

 forecasts. Thanks were expressed to the 

 Portuguese government, Chaves, Eyder and 

 Stupart for these prospective improvements. 

 It has not been found that ordinary wireless 

 messages from vessels at sea are yet sufB- 

 ciently developed and controlled to give the 

 necessary long distance and regularity re- 

 quired for improving the forecast systems, but 

 further experiments are approved, especially 

 in attaching remote stations to regular line 

 offices. A special report was made on the 

 unusual and unnecessary diversity of mari- 

 time storm warning signals, now prevailing all 

 over the world to the great confusion of navi- 

 gators, and after much discussion it was 

 agreed to adopt the cone and drum signals 

 for dap use, as proposed at the London meet- 

 ing of 1909, but that the subject of lights for 

 night signals be referred to the same commit- 

 tee for further investigation. Hergesell made 

 an extended report on behalf of the Commis- 

 sion on Aeronautics for the exploration of the 

 upper air by means of balloons and kites, 

 showing a great extension of permanent ob- 

 servatories in the United States, Canada, Ar- 

 gentina, in several countries of Europe, India, 

 Australia, Africa and many temporary explo- 

 rations, the most important being in the 

 tropics and in the Arctic regions. In the 

 tropics the isothermal layer usually begins at 

 16,000 meters elevation, and in the polar zone 



at about 10,000 meters. Below this layer 

 there is turbulent circulation of the atmos- 

 phere, with mixing convection currents, while 

 the isothermal layer itself seems to be the 

 region of solar insolation without convection 

 of importance. A proposition to explore the 

 radiation effects in the isothermal layer by 

 means of spectrograms was favored in prin- 

 ciple, but no action was taken. Similarly, 

 polarization observations were encouraged 

 without special olficial instructions. The com- 

 mission on radiation was reorganized and 

 among the members Bigelow represents Ar- 

 gentina and Kimball the United States. The 

 standardization of pyrheliometers was strongly 

 urged, but it was thought too early to desig- 

 nate a central office for that purpose. It was 

 hoped that the experiments now in progress 

 would be sufficiently advanced before another 

 meeting of the -international committee to 

 permit it to take more specific action at that 

 time. No action was taken regarding the 

 definition of gradient signs, as this involved 

 the fixing of the fundamental system of the 

 axes of coordinates of reference, which was too 

 large a subject for immediate consideration. 

 The topics of snowfall, water equivalent, 

 evaporation apparatus and the status of these 

 problems in meteorology were discussed with- 

 out arriving at any definite resolutions. The 

 next meeting of the international committee 

 will take place at Paris, 1913. An interesting 

 excursion was made to the important aero- 

 nautical station at Lindenburg on September 

 30; Professor Dr. G. Hergesell most cour- 

 teously entertained the committee at dinner 

 on September 28. 



I have been very much impressed at the 

 Berlin meeting by the notable advances in 

 scientific meteorology, especially by the efforts 

 to study the circulation of the atmosphere, 

 together with the radiation ^nd solar physics 

 problems, as represented by numerous commis- 

 sions. In addition to improving the usual 

 forecast and storm warning services, and the 

 climatological data, systematic plans are now 

 fully in operation to develop the hydrody- 

 namics and thermodynamics of the atmos- 

 pheres of the earth and of the sun, in connec- 

 tion with the phenomena of solar radiation 



