532 F. If. Bigelow — Earl It's Xonadiabafie Atmosphere. 



Further studies on this subject have been undertaken. Table 

 4 gives an exhibit of the values of A for ten ascensions, for the 

 purpose of showing the turbulent nature of this exponent near 

 the surface of the earth, and especially in the isothermal laver. 

 Near the equator the computed values of A are approximately 

 4 - 00 to great altitudes, but they become very large and unsteady 

 in the isothermal layer, in a region which increases in latitude 

 as it descends in altitude. This is due to the fact that, 



T. - T 



T. - T 



where T, is nearly the same as T , that is, the temperature is 

 nearly equal in the layer of computation. It is through such 

 irregularities that the formulas are compelled to proceed in 

 computing P, p, R and the other terms from the observed T in 

 the nonadiabatic atmosphere, and this shows how impossible 

 it is to expect to successfully apply the adiabatic formulas, for 

 n=l and R, Cp constant, in these meteorological problems. 



Transformation of the heat units. The K. M. S. system of 

 units is transformed to the C. G. S. system by the factor 1000 

 X 100 X 100 = 10 7 . The mechanical equivalent of heat in 

 the K. M. S. system is 4185*57 kilogram-meters or 4*18557 

 X 10 10 C. G. S. for 1000 meters in the stratum. For example, 

 having 660 mechanical units K. M. S. per 1000 meters; this 

 is equivalent to 0"1577 large calories or 157 - 7 small calories 

 per 1000, or - 1577 small calory per meter of altitude per 

 square meter of surface. In this way the mechanical units of 

 heat Q,— Q (K. M. S.) in Table 2 can be converted into small 

 calories per square meter and then submitted to an integration. 



Conclusion. 



(1) The dry air radiates like a perfect black radiator with 

 the Stefan exponent 4 - 00 from the level 2000 meters to the 

 isothermal layer. In the surface stratum it is more than 4 - 00, 

 due to the added heat of condensing aqueous vapor, and in the 

 isothermal layer it is very irregular, due to the small changes 

 in the value of the temperature per 1000 meters. 



(2) The isothermal layer of relatively high temperature seems 

 to be due to a congestion in the rate of radiation, depending 

 upon the complex thermodynamic relations of the pressure, 

 density, gravity, which produce a large change in the specific 

 heat, a small change in the temperature, but an accelerated 

 loss of radiant heat. 



