STUDY OF AIR CURRENTS

Grey River Argus, 25 April 1911, Page 2

STUDY OF AIR CURRENTS

onui men oegan to navigate the air \<ia.a stuay its currents and movements little actention was paid to the concutions of the upper atmosphere, ana such matters |as atmospheric vats and top currents completely encircling- the earth were of seemingly little interest. since men have flown we havehe'ard a great deal in a vague way 0/ air currents. 'Recently Lawrence tiodges, in a paper before an English scientific body, gave some unique tacts about air tides which are not g-enerally known. I lie moon, we know, causes the marine tides fry its attraction. It | draws the \siter oh the surface of the j earth towards it in a hump on the r sfde that 1 is exposed to the lunar in- J iluence, and draws the earth itself -Way from the water on the opposite side, leaving- a corresponding hump of water. The air, it seems, is affected in the same way. The layer of atmosphere ' about the earth rises, falls and flows more freely than water because it is lighter, so the tide comes more quickly in the air at a given spot than the marine tide. ihis rise and fall, however, means just as much to the navigator of the air as the tide in the sea does to the I sailor, and has to be accounted for. : The most remarkable current, however, is one constant stream in the atmosphere running from west to east completely around the earth, in tke upper atmosphere. This was first brought to public attention when the volcano Krakatao blew a cubic mile of matter into the upper atmosphere in the eighties. The Tighter particles were seen fo make a complete circuit of the earth seven times in this circumsrlobnlnr current "before they finally disappeared: