1942: Meteorology

Researches in meteorology have been intensified as a phase of the war effort. However, new findings have not been generally released for publication and probably will not be until the war's end. Never in the history of man has a knowledge of aero-dynamics been of such critical value as today and never has there been greater assurance that research in this field will continue to have support. Commercial aviators will need the assistance of meteorologists after this war is ended quite as much as military aviators use it now.

Meteorological Literature.

The growth of interest in meteorology was evidenced in 1942 not alone by the publication of numerous short papers, but by a stream of books, some of them especially prepared for pilots. A few of their titles are significant: Basic Weather For Pilot Trainees, issued by the War Department; Meteorology and Air Navigation, written by an instructor in Civilian Pilot Training; Weather Guide For Air Pilots, Navigation and Meteorology and Oceanography for Meteorologists. Other books of a more general nature are: Weather and the Ocean of Air, Astronomy, Maps and Weather, and Elementary Meteorology. In addition, several other books treating this rapidly advancing field were on press as the year closed.

A comparison of the contents of these books and those of as recently as ten years ago is impressive for the number of new concepts revealed and the expansion of vocabulary. Probably no field has advanced so rapidly in modern times as has that of meteorology with respect both to theory and application. The use of high-level air data is striking. Those for 5,000 feet, 10,000 feet and even higher levels are now of as great significance as those at sea-level. Only some 25 to 30 years ago, a few lone meteorologists toyed with scant data from such levels and advanced notions that they could be invaluable adjuncts to forecasting, but gained little hearing. And such ideas as air-mass analysis, the wave theory of cyclones and isentropic analysis were yet to reach full bloom for usable purposes.

Tropical Meteorology.

What effect the war will have had upon research in tropical meteorology must remain unknown until the last shot is fired. With the intense U-boat campaign waged by the Axis powers against United Nations shipping in Caribbean and associated waters, not only observations must have been curtailed but their relay by radio to shore stations must have been restricted, particularly during the first eight months of 1942. One reliable report indicated the exceptional and fortunate circumstance that there had been no hurricanes off the southeast coast of the United States between January and the late summer of 1942. On the other hand it is conceivable that new methods of forecasting hurricanes and other phenomena may have been worked out or important new contributions made. What the Japanese meteorologists and those of the United Nations have learned in the tropical areas of the Far East must also remain unknown to the world until after the war is ended. Undoubtedly aviators made significant observations in great detail over many islands which heretofore have been classified as regions to be studied in the indefinite future.

Cloud Study.

Increased attention has been paid by many individuals to cloud studies since they have been deprived of the usual standard Weather Bureau reports as bases for forecasts. Likewise professional meteorologists have shown increased interest in clouds. They teach aviators to recognize cloud types and their structures in relation to the kind of weather which may be expected. Thus forecasting based upon cloud types will have been advanced in consequence of the war.

Research.

Research in the five university meteorological institutes went on apace and the training of men in and for the military services likewise. A special committee consisting of one representative from each of these institutions was organized to advise in the training program for meteorologists for the war services. In addition, the teaching of meteorology was greatly expanded in many other universities and colleges.

Studies in micro-meteorology have proceeded in various regions, some under the direct supervision of the national government and others with the latter's partial assistance. These investigations it is expected will add much in the course of time to our knowledge of the local behavior of the air in relation to passing cyclones and anti-cyclones and may shed light too upon the occurrence of certain types of plant life in places where seemingly they should not grow.

Mention of the opening of the military road 'Alcan' between the United States and Alaska in a review of meteorological progress may seem out of place. However, it is noted here, because this road will make regions heretofore remote, readily accessible and undoubtedly will lead to the establishment of observation posts that will contribute much new data of value to our understanding of the movement and perhaps origin too, of cyclonic storms. Additional light may be shed upon those storms which popularly but probably erroneously, had been thought for years to develop in the Medicine Hat region.

The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research of the University of Arizona, released new data on the subject of variations in precipitation over long periods of time, upwards of centuries. Such meteorological data, depending upon their reliability as indices, may be helpful in the interpretation of climatic changes. These studies are sometimes referred to as dendrochronologic. This type of investigation, first stimulated by Dr. A. E. Douglass of the Carnegie Institution several decades ago has long since attracted world-wide attention.