Vol. 6, 1920 
GEOPHYSICS: C. F. MARVIN 
571 
more especially the Pacific. In this connection reference may be made 
to the Committee of Exploration of the National Academy of Sciences 
which has had under consideration for several years plans for the ex- 
ploration of the atmosphere over the Pacific. What I have more par- 
ticularly in mind, however, is the necessity for more meteorological ob- 
servations from vessels navigating the Pacific. The ordinary means at 
our command that can be applied to stimulating interest in meteorological 
observations by vessel masters may not be sufficient to procure an im- 
mediate response to this need. In any event it will be helpful and neces- 
sary to secure the active cooperation of all the great dominating interests 
concerned in the development of the Pacific area. 
UNIFORMITY IN PUBLICATION 
The one great handicap to the use of the accumulated meteorological 
data is the fact that adequate summaries fpr representative stations in 
different parts of the globe are not available. An important forward 
step will have been taken when the various meteorological services shall 
agree to compile according to some uniform plan and publish monthly 
and annual summaries for representative stations under their jurisdiction. 
This in effect would be an extension of the data now published by the 
Engli^ Meteorological Office to include other elements than pressure 
and temperature. The subject is one for international conference and 
consideration ; meanwhile each country should begin the preparation of 
a digest of its own data for the needs of its own citizens. 
TERRESTRIAL WEATHER AND SOLAR ACTIVITIES 
A profound understanding of the problems of meteorology requires a 
correct discernment of the ultimate causes of weather. In recent years 
much attention has been directed to the establishment of detailed correla- 
tions between solar activities and terrestrial weather. It seems most 
important to proceed cautiously in a matter of this kind, since it would 
appear that the views being advocated by a few leaders in these inves- 
tigations must be regarded with skepticism and distrust in the forms in 
which they have thus far been presented. All are in accord that the 
sun is the ultimate source of all our atmospheric phenomena commonly 
designated weather. It seems that the daily sequence of sunshine and 
darkness; the varied distribution of clear and cloudy skies; diversities 
of surface cover added to contacts of land and water areas, including the 
phenomena of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation; the cycle of 
the seasons, and above all the fluctuating but nevertheless perpetual con- 
trasts of surface temperatures, ranging all the way from the heat of the 
tropics to the intense cold of the polar zones constitute a complex series 
of varied and changeable influences seemingly abundantly adequate to 
cause and explain every feature of our weather conditions, however 
changeable we may find them. 
