Months “Year ”

Ffins Are

Ving In

Eparations For The Months “Year ”

JIGGERED by the approaching International Geophysical Year (it lasts 18 months and corn ices July 1, 1957), a good deal jreliminary work is already in d all over the world and in w different scientific spheres. In fields of oceanography and ;orology, and no doubt in other s, too, things are on the move he Pacific. le Australian Bureau of Meteor ic announced in mid-July that dio sonde and radio theodolite on will be in operation at Lae, by late August. This is the such station to operate in New lea since the American forces drew after the war. At the i time it was announced from ington, NZ, that radio sonde 3ns would shortly be put into ition at the Chatham Islands, pbell Island far to the south, at Tarawa in the Gilberts, all ; stations coming under New md Meteorological Office con ere is nothing new about the i sonde equipment which has in use since the 1930’s in

various parts of the world. It con sists of equipment sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure temperature, and humidity. The ex pansions or contractions of these elements are used to control signals from a miniature radio transmitter The complete unit, quite small, is hoisted by a suitable balloon, and when the balloon finally reaches a height where it bursts, the equip ment floats down by a small para chute. Many sets are lost—at sea or in uninhabited areas far from the point of release. A few are found. Instructions tell the finder what to do with the equipment Its discovery is not essential from the technical point of view, as a radio receiver at the point of re lease has already recorded the transmitted data. But the equip ment is valuable, can be recon ditioned, and used again.

Formerly the radio sonde balloons were observed with an optical theodolite—a telescope whose angles of elevation and direction can be accurately recorded. The rate of ascent of the balloon could be estimated with fair accuracy, and as a result of this knowledge and the observed direction of the balloon after release, it was possible to calculate the strength and direction of winds at any level.

That is, until the balloon dis appeared behind clouds—and such balloons might rise to 100,000 ft.

A later development is the radio theodolite—simply an accurate radio

direction-finder, which disregards g™? COV6r and kee P s tr ack of the balloon accurately. This Hi . equipment will be installed at Lae but apparently not at the other stations mentioned.

In addition to the above, radar

ar<B , b 8 established a,

Funafuti and Rarotonga later. These merely record upper winds. A radar e ei or to a balloon, and the balloon kept track of until i; . H{ Bts 8 ts- Upper temperatures humidities, and pressures are not recorded under this simpler system Radar equipment will gradually re place all the optical theodolite equipment. * n . the oceanographic sphere, Tokio Radio reported on July 25

that the oceanographic research vessel Satsuma was sailing that day for the equator, and would be joined by nine American vessels to carry out preliminary work for the IGY —so there need be no panic in Tarawa or Fiji if “mystery vessels” are sighted in the months ahead.

As PIM warned last year, there will be lots of queer goings and com ings from now through to the end of 1958, and so many nations are involved that it is difficult to keep track of intended events.

The Satellites are Coming

THE sky is going to become par ticularly interesting during the 18 months of the so-called Geophysical “Year.”

United States scientists report that preparations are well advanced for the launching of the first of twelve man-made satellites next year. It should be visible in the Islands, and there is even a pos sibility that it may even lob into someone’s back yard there if the rockets used for its launching from Patrick Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral, east coast of Florida, fail to do their work.

If the launching is successful, the 2U lb weight, 30 inches diameter metal globe will settle into an elliptical orbit which will be 200

miles from the earth at the nearest points and 800 miles at the furthest.

Travelling at 18,000 mph the in strument-packed gadget will circle the earth in Ih hours or 16 times per day. According to the scientists, the satellite should be visible to the

naked eye for about ten minutes its dawn and dusk crossings fro horizon to horizon.

The satellite will circle at angle "of 40 deg. to the equator. T: limits of its travel will thus vsg between 40 deg. north latitude aj

deg. south latitude, so in the mds’ area it will —like the sun— sometimes north and sometimes th of the observer. ’hough there could be a misfire aunching this satellite, there will no danger of it landing in your inity when it eventually “runs m” —for it will be completely nt up as it gradually re-enters (earth’s atmosphere from outer ce. he scientists hope that this will happen for a year or even two rs, though this will depend on

how far from the earth the rockets succeed in launching the object During this period it will report by radio, and from observations from the earth, the atmospheric density temperature, pressure, ultra-violet and cosmic-ray radiation, data on passing meteorites, information on the composition of the earth’s sur face (through gravitational pull) and other scientific data.

Later satellites will record other data. t Qantas Catalinas in Papua-New Guinea flew two mercy-flights to bring sick natives to hospital in Port Moresby in July. Patients were a man from Abau and a baby girl in the Trobriands.