The Exploration of the Atmosphere above the Atlantic

Abstract

A PLAN for systematic work of this kind, which was proposed by the writer in 1901 at the Glasgow meeting of the British Association (Report, p. 724) after he had obtained the first observations with kites flown from a Transatlantic steamer, is now being partially realised. Last summer Prof. Hergesell, on board the Prince of Monaco's steamyacht Princess Alice, executed sixteen kite-flights above that part of the Atlantic bounded by Spain, the Canaries and the Azores, but without finding the expected southwest anti-trade, although a height of nearly 15,000 feet was reached (NATURE, vol. lxxi. p. 467). The present expedition, which will repeat Prof. Hergesell's investigations and continue them further south, is made possible through the cooperation of our distinguished French colleague, M. Teisserenc de Bort, whose steam-yacht Otaria, of 350 tons, with a speed of 11 knots, and fully equipped for aërial exploration, has just sailed from Gibraltar, and, at the joint expense of her owner and the writer, will proceed towards the equator by way of Madeira, Canary and Cape Verde Islands, making frequent soundings with kites through the trade winds and equatorial calms. By means of the self-recording instruments lifted by the kites, it is expected that there will be ascertained the thermal and hygrometric conditions of the various strata traversed, and the depth and force of the trade wind in the different latitudes. If the kites do not reach the south-west return trade, which has been observed on the Peak of Teneriffe, the vertical range of observation may be increased by liberating hydrogen balloons from Madeira and noting their drift.