Meteorological Effects of Eclipses

Abstract

IN connection with certain variations of temperature observed during the total eclipse of the moon on August 24, 1877, by M. Berigny, and discussed at a late meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, as reported in NATURE (vol xvi p. 412), I am reminded of some observations made on board H. M. S. Challenger during the total eclipse of the sun on April 6, 1875, The position of the ship at noon of the day of the eclipse was in lat. 27° 13′ N., long. 137° 59′ E. about 400 miles south of Japan and 200 miles due west of the Bonin Islands. If my memory be correct, the eclipse was only partial for the part of the world we were in, a Dortion of the sun's disc being still visible in the shape of a thin crescent at the moment of maximum obscuration. The eclipse, occurred in the afternoon, and was heralded by a breeze from the south-west, which continued during the rest of the evening; but what at the time struck us as very remarkable was the fact that it was accompanied by a rise of the surface temperature of the sea, as will be seen from the following observations made at the time:—