Half-Century-Old Laboratory Shows Its Equipment and Weather Records

Exactly 12 miles south of Memorial Hall is located one of the University's busiest and most scientific units, the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, which has recently prepared a large public exhibition showing its progress in the last five years.

Among the principal exhibits are America's first automatic radio weather station, which makes an hourly recording of temperature, humidity, pressure, wind direction and velocity, and sunshine; radiosondes, to check weather conditions in the stratosphere; and detailed data on the September hurricane.

Established by Abbott Lawrence Rotch, a cousin of President Lowell, and maintained originally at his expense, the Observatory is on Great Blue Hill, in the towns of Milton and Canton. In 1912 the Observatory was bequeathed to the University, while the 70-acre park surrounding it is maintained by the Metropolitan District Commission as a public park.

Makes Ocean Air Maps

Under the direction of Professor Charles F. Brooks '12, a staff varying from three to twelve men has been doing all sorts of experiments, placing particular emphasis on radio and electrical work. One of their most striking activities has been the charting out of routes and assembling meteorological statistics for future trans-Atlantic flights.

Radio Weather Reports

The automatic radio station, completed only two weeks ago, is the first device of its kind in the world. Built in a small wire-closed enclosure behind the main buildings, the station consists of a number of complicated (instruments which constantly check the weather conditions and send out radio signals to a receiving set on the top of the Observatory tower. When received on the tower, the signals are transmitted up on graphs, so that a permanent written record is available for government and research stations. The only thing Professor Brooks has to do is to see that the sending apparatus is supplied with fresh batteries.

Since Blue Hill's original "cigar-box" radiosonde recorder was invented by Karl O. Lange in 1936, dozens of ascents have been made in the stratosphere, as high as 79,000 feet. The "cigar-box" is drawn up into the heights by a large hydrogen balloon.

Station WIXFW

By tuning in station WIXFW at 7:30 o'clock in the morning, a radio fan may catch the signals sent down to earth by the radiosonde. Because upper air conditions are vital to air pilots, the Observatory has been getting help from the International Ice Patrol, the United States Weather Bureau, M. I. T., the Navy, and the Canadian, British, French, and Danish governments.

The total weight of the radiosonde is only 18 ounces. Air pressure is obtained by a pair of small aneroid bellows; the temperature, by a bimetallic strip which coils with change in temperature; and the humidity, by a single human hair. Each of the three instruments is fitted with a needle which touches a wire, sending out a radio signal by means of a micro-transmitting set. The significance of the signals depends on the time between them. The measurement of this time interval by the operators on the ground provides all the needed information.

Records from Stratosphere

Although each ascent of a radiosonde costs as much as $30, they have proved invaluable for the air service, which can not get accurate and steady weather reports from the stratosphere in any other way.

Another important part of Blue Hill's work has been the study of icing conditions, in an effort to make winter flying safer. Routine radio soundings with balloons have made possible startling discoveries about the causes of ice formation on wings and have permitted the construction of ice-proof airplanes.

Fifty Years of Research

As a result of more than 50 years of careful work, Blue Hill has weather records, which are, in the opinion of Professor Brooks, the most detailed in the United States. These include not only the open-scale instrumental charts and the three-times-a-day check readings of the instruments, but also a comprehensive record of the weather: the visibility, the precipitation and the cloud types and motions.