Part 22

Meteorological observatories are provided with these instruments, and all nations worthy of the name of civilized co-operate with more or less efficiency in providing and endowing such establishments. They are placed in suitable localities, and communicate with each other, and with certain head-quarters, by means of the electric telegraph. One of these head-quarters is the Meteorological Office, at No. 116 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., which daily receives the results of the observations taken at about fifty stations on the British Islands and the Continent. The chief observations are made simultaneously—at 8 A.M.—and telegraphed in cypher to London, where they usually arrive before 10 A.M. As they come in they are marked down in their proper places upon a large chart, and when this chart is sufficiently completed, a condensed or abstract copy is made containing as much information as may be included in the small newspaper charts. This is copied mechanically on a reduced scale on a slab on which the outline chart has been already engraved. This engraving completed, casts are made in fusible metal with the black lines in relief, for printing with ordinary type, and the casts are set up with the ordinary newspaper types, and printed with the letterpress matter.

The engravings overleaf are taken from two of the newspaper weather charts for the dates of October 5th and 6th. They are enlarged and printed more clearly than the originals, with an explanation of signs at foot of the charts.

It will be observed that, in the chart for October 5th, an isobar of 29.2 runs up in a N.E. direction from between the Orkney and Shetland islands, crosses the North Sea, strikes the coast of Norway near Bergen, and then proceeds onwards towards Throndhjem. An isobar of 29.5 crosses Scotland, following very nearly the line of the Grampians, enters the North Sea about Aberdeen, and crosses to Christiansund; then runs up the Skager Rack and Christiania Fjord towards Christiania. Another isobar of 29.8 crosses Ireland through Connaught to Dublin, onward across England by Liverpool and the Humber, over the North Sea, and through Sleswig to the Baltic. These three are nearly parallel; but now we find another isobar—that of 30.2—taking quite a different course, by starting from the Bay of Biscay about Nantes; running on towards Paris and Strasbourg, and then bending sharp round, as though frightened by the Germans, and retreating to the Gulf of Lyons by an opposite course to that on which it started. On the following day all has changed; the northern isobars are running down south-eastwards instead of north-east, and are remarkably parallel. In the left-hand upper corner of this chart is a note that “our west, north, and eastern coasts were warned yesterday.” Why was this? It was mainly because the barometric gradient or incline was so steep. On the 5th there was one inch of difference between the Orkneys and the Bay of Biscay, or between Bergen and Paris, while the barometer was still falling in Norway and at the same moment rising in Ireland and France. On the following day these movements culminated in a gradient of 1.4—nearly one and a half inches—between Cornwall and the ancient capital of Norway.

EXPLANATION OF WEATHER CHART.

In these charts the state of the sea—whether “rough,” “smooth,” “moderate,” “slight,” etc., is marked in capital letters; and the state of the weather—as “clear,” “dull,” “cloudy,” “showery,” etc., in small letters. The direction of the wind is indicated by the arrows. Unlike the arrows of a vane, these do not point towards the direction from which the wind is coming, but are flying arrows represented as moving with the wind, and consequently pointing to where the wind is going. The force of the wind is represented in five degrees of strength. 1st. A calm, by a horizontal line and zero—0 thus 0; 2nd. A light wind, by an arrow with one barb and no feathers _____\; 3rd. A fresh to strong breeze, by an arrow with two barbs and no feathers ——————>; 4th. A gale, by an arrow with two feathers >——————>; and 5th. A violent gale, by an arrow with four feathers >>——————>. The temperature—in the shade—is marked in figures with a small circle to the right, indicating degrees—as 60°. These figures stand in the places where the observations are made. The other figures—usually with decimals, and placed at the end of the dotted lines—give the height of the barometer—the dotted line showing where this particular height remained the same at the time of observation. These dotted lines are called “isobars,” or equal weights_—the weight or over-head pressure of the atmosphere being the same all along the line.

What must follow from this condition of the atmosphere? Clearly a great flow or rush of air from the south towards the comparatively vacuous regions of the north. The gases of our atmosphere, like the waters of the ocean, are always struggling to find their level, and thereby the winds are produced. The air flows from all sides towards the lowest isobar. But what, then, must be the course of the wind? Will it be in straight lines towards this point? If so, a strange conflict must result when all these currents meet from opposite directions. What will follow from this conflict? A skillful physicist can work out this problem mathematically, but we are not all mathematicians, some of us are not able to follow his formulæ, and, therefore, will do better by resorting to simple observation of other analogous and familiar phenomena. A funnel or any vessel with a hole in the bottom will answer our purpose. Let us fill such a vessel with water, then open the hole, and see what will be the course of the water when it is struggling to flow from all sides to the one point of vacuity. It will very soon establish a vortex or whirlpool, i.e., the water instead of flowing directly by straight lines from the sides to the centre of the funnel, will take a roundabout, spiral course, and thus screw its way down the outlet of the funnel.

This is just what occurs when the air is rushing to fill a comparatively vacuous atmospheric space. It moves in a spiral; and in the Northern Hemisphere this spiral always turns in the same way, viz., in the opposite direction to the hands of a clock when flowing inwards, and vice versâ, or with the clock hands, when the air is overflowing from a centre of high pressure.

In the chart for October 5th both these cases are illustrated. North of Dublin there is a curvature of isobars and an inrush of winds towards a northward low pressure, or vacuous region; while south of Dublin the isobar tends sharply round a high-pressure focus, and the overflowing wind is correspondingly reversed in direction, as shown by the arrows.

The next chart, for October 6th, shows that the overflow has spread northwards as far as Dublin, and the high-pressure focus has also moved northwards. It follows from this that if you know the barometric gradient, and stand with your left hand to the region of low barometer and your right hand to that of the high barometer, the wind will blow against your back, i.e., you will face the direction of the wind, or of those flying arrows on the chart. This interesting and important generalization is called “Buys Ballot’s Law.” In spite of the proverbial fickleness of the winds this simple law is rarely infringed, though it may require a slight modification of statement—inasmuch as the wind does not move in circles round the vacuous space, but in spirals, and thus it blows not quite square to the back, but rather obliquely, or a little on the right side. This is shown by the arrows in the charts, and is most strikingly displayed in the chart for October 6th, between the isobars of 30.3 and 30.5. To take, in Ireland, the position required by Buys Ballot’s Law, one must have stood facing the east, and accordingly, the westerly wind would then blow upon one’s back. In Paris, at the same moment, the position would be facing south-east, and the wind was curving round accordingly. Further south—at Bordeaux or the Pyrenees—the position becomes almost reversed, i.e., facing south-west, and the wind is reversed in equal degree.

Here, then, on these days we had the chief conditions of wind and rain, a steep and increasing barometric gradient, and a flow over our islands of humid air from the south and west regions of the great Atlantic. Strong winds and heavy rains did follow accordingly; and the prophetic warnings of the Meteorological Office, which are conveyed by means of signals displayed on prominent parts of the coast, were fulfilled.

Mr. Scott, the Director of the Meteorological Office, tells us that “The degree of success that has attended our warnings in these islands, on the average of the last two years, has been that over 45 per cent have been followed by severe gales; and over 33 per cent in addition have been followed by wind too strong for fishing-boats and yachts, though in themselves not severe gales; this gives a total percentage of success of nearly 80.”

In winter the movements of the air are more decided, and the changes are often so rapid that the warning sometimes comes too late. With increased means—i.e., more money to cover additional work, and more stations—better results might be obtained. The United States expend 50,000l. a year in weather telegraphy, exclusive of salaries, while the United Kingdom only devotes 3,000l. a year to the same purpose. The difficulties on our side of the Atlantic are greater than on the American coasts, on account of the greater changeableness of our weather—mainly due to the more irregular distribution of land and water on this side. This, however, instead of discouraging national effort, should be regarded as a reason for increasing it. The greater the changes, the greater is the need for warnings, and the greater the difficulty the greater should be the effort. With our multitude of coastguard stations and naval men without employment, we ought to surpass all the world in such a work as this.

Those among our readers who are sufficiently interested in this subject to devote a little time to it, may make a very interesting weather scrap-book by cutting out the newspaper chart for each day, pasting it in a suitable album, and appending their own remarks on the weather at the date of publication, i.e. the day after the chart observations are made. Such an album would be far more interesting than the postage stamp and monogram albums that are so abundant.

Parents who desire their children to acquire habits of systematic observation, and to cultivate an intelligent interest in natural phenomena, will do well to supply such albums to their sons or daughters, and to hand over to them the daily paper for this purpose.

The Meteorological Office supplies by post copies of “Daily Weather Reports” to any subscriber who pays five shillings per quarter in advance; such subscriptions payable to Robt. H. Scott, Esq., Director Meteorological Office, 116 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.

These daily reports are printed on a large double sheet, on one half of which are four charts, representing separately the four records which are included in the one smaller newspaper chart—viz., those of the barometer, the thermometer, the rain-gauge, and the anemometer. On the other half of the sheet is a detailed separate tabular statement of the results of observations made at the following stations:

Haparanda Hernösand Stockholm Wisby Christiansund Skudesnaes Oxö (Christiansund) Skagen (The Skaw) Fanö Cuxhaven Sumburgh Head Stornoway Thurso Wick Nairn Aberdeen Leith Shields York Scarborough Nottingham Ardrossan Greencastle Donaghadee Kingstown Holyhead Liverpool Valencia Roche’s Point Pembroke Portishead Scilly Plymouth Hurst Castle Dover London Oxford Cambridge Yarmouth The Helder Cape Griznez Brest L’Orient Rochefort Biarritz Corunna Brussels Charleville Paris Lyons Toulon

On Winds and Currents, from the Admiralty Physical Atlas.

In the Northern Hemisphere the effect of the veering of the wind on the barometer is according to the following law:

With East, South-east, and South winds, the barometer falls.

With South-west winds, the barometer ceases to fall and begins to rise.

With West, North-west, and North winds, the barometer rises.

With North-east winds, the barometer ceases to rise and begins to fall.

In the Northern Hemisphere the thermometer rises with East, South-east, and South winds; with a South-west wind it ceases to rise and begins to fall; it falls with West, North-west, and North winds; and with a North-east wind it ceases to fall and begins to rise.

THE CHEMISTRY OF BOG RECLAMATION.

The mode of proceeding for the reclamation of bog-land at Kylemore is first to remove the excess of water by “the big drain and the secondary drains,” which must be cut deep enough to go right down to the gravel below. These are supplemented by the “sheep drains,” or surface-drains, which are about twenty inches wide at top, and narrow downwards to six inches at bottom. They run parallel to each other, with a space of about ten yards between, and cost one penny per six yards.

This first step having been made, the bog is left for two years, during which it drains, consolidates, and sinks somewhat. If the bog is deep, the turf, which has now become valuable by consolidation, should be cut.

After this it is left about two years longer, with the drains still open. Then the drains are cleared and deepened, and a wedge-shaped sod, too wide to reach the bottom, is rammed in so as to leave below it a permanent tubular covered drain, which is thus made without the aid of any tiles or other outside material. The drainage is now completed, and the surface prepared for the important operation of dressing with lime, which, as the people expressively say, “boils the bog,” and converts it into a soil suitable for direct agricultural operations.