1000 BRITISH SCIENTISTS BUSY ON I.G.Y.

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 6

1000 BRITISH SCIENTISTS BUSY ON I.G.Y.

IBy DOMINICK JONES] LONDON. Over 1000 British scientists are now actively preparing for the opening, on July 1, of the International Geophysical Year, the world’s most ambitious attempt yet at international scientific co-operation.

Already the Royal Society, which is planning Britain’s contri-, bution to the International Geophysical Year, has sent an expedition to Antarctica to set up a permanent base, and will co-oper-ate with the British Trans-An-tarctic Expedition led by Dr. Vivian Fuchs. Dr. Fuchs hopes to cross Antarctica from one side to the other over the South Pole, where he will be met by a New Zealand expedition under Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Everest. Other British research will be carried out by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, which has already been established in the area for some years. But research in Antarctica which Britain, in company with some ten other nations is undertaking, is merely an extension of the world-wide system of observation called for by the body planning the International Geophysical Year as a whole—the Comite Special de I’Annee Geophysique Internationale.

The Challenge

Antarctica, as big as Europe and [ America combined, presents a > special challenge, since less is . known about it than any other area in the world. Mountains rise to a height of 10,000 feet (3000 metres), some of them composed of solid ice. Scientists estimate that if these vast ice masses were to melt, the level of the sea might , rise as much as 2000 feet (60 . metres) swamping much of the ’ known world. Echo soundings made by the various national teams, including the British, Transantarctic Expedition, may also show whether the land mass underneath the ice is a single unit or several units with intervening ice-covered sea. While some 55 national research stations are being set up in Antartica, another 150 stations inside the Arctic Circle will contribute information about the North Polar regions to the sum total of the data being collected during the International Geophysical Year. Other gaps in the chain of observation of scientific phenomena, are also being filled. A triple ring of observatories is scheduled in three north-sound bands. One network will pass through Europe and Africa, another through the American continent, and the third through the Soviet Union, Japan and Australia. Some stations in these three bands already exist. Others are being planned. Some of the questions to which scientists are trying to find answers are: Do continents drift, and if so, at what rate? Is the earth’s climate becoming warmer? Are sunspots the origin of certain types of cosmic rays? What is the cause of airglow, the faint background luminosity in the night sky which can be observed with instruments at all latitudes? What is the general nature of the vigorous circulation of winds at the highest atmospheric levels?

77 Stations The idea of the International Geophysical Year originated with the two International Polar Years, which took place in 1882-83 and, 50 years later, in 1932-33 respectively. The second International Polar Year was held at a time when solar activity was at a minimum., but during the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year, which is to last for 18 months, solar activity is expected to be at a maximum. Britain’s contribution to the International Geophysical Year will cost the Government £500,000

sterling over and above the sum normally spent on geophysical research. Over 40 scientific research stations in Britain, some 30 stations in the Colonies and seven research vessels at sea will take part in the British programme. In Britain, the centre of work will be Scotland, where Mr James Paton, 53-year-old reader in meteorology at Edinburgh University, will also co-ordinate the results of a large section of European observations. Under Mr Paton will be 300 amateurs primarily engaged in watching for the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis. British observation of the Southern Lights, of Aurora Australis, will be carried out by the Royal Society, based at Halley Bay, on the Weddell Sea, and by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. Solar Flares A spectacular part of the British programme will be the launching of rockets known as the Skylark, now being tested at Woomera rocket range in Australia. If these tests are successful, the rockets, their heads packed with scientific instruments, will be fired in Britain towards the end of this year, at about the same time as the Americans hope to launch their first Earth Satellite.

Since a great deal of the work of the International Geophysical Year is connected with observation of the sun, and especially of phenomena related to the occurrence of unpredictable solar flares, ong of the tasks of the Boulder Laboratory will be to collect reports of solar flares, and disseminate predictions of the related phenomena all over the world.

These phenomena, such as magnetic storms, disturbances to long range radio communications, changes in the intensity of incoming cosmic rays, and displays of the Northern and Southern Lights, can then be observed intensively. The Boulder Laboratory will also be responsible for giving warning of what are to be described as Special World Intervals of several days’ duration to cover periods expected to be of geophysical importance. Apart from the Special World Intervals, there will be three Regular World Days each month, two at the new moon and one at the first quarter moon, and World Meteorological Intervals, scheduled for the Solstices and Equinoxes, to last for six to ten days, when intensive study will be made of various phenomena. Geophysics includes such subjects as meteorology, geomagnetism, aurora and airglow, the ionosphere, solar activity, cosmic rays, glaciology, oceanography, seismology, gravity, and geographical distribution.