Abstract
American Meteorological Journal, May.—The principal article is “Meteorology and Geodesy,” by Prof. C. Abbe. It contains tables showing the variations in the force of gravity over the North American continent and the Atlantic ocean and their effect on the mercurial barometer. The author points out that there is a local attraction of gravitation that is less over the continents than over the oceans, and probably, on the average, less in the northern than in the southern atmosphere; these differences must be allowed for, in combination with the effects due to the density of the atmosphere and to centrifugal force. The principal lesistance to the motion of the atmosphere originates in the connective processes that force stagnant air to mix with air in motion; this convective friction is quite independent of viscosity, which has been generally introduced into the formulæ for atmospheric motion, and it is much more effective. The most important subject for the meteorologist to study is these convective mixtures and the resistances or accelerations that result therefrom. The author considers it unnecessary to take up the minute irregularities treated of in this paper, until after the study above referred to has explained the larger part of the irregularities of atmospheric motions. The same journal contains tome very useful suggestions by Prof. Abbe, on the various meteorological problems that might be taken up by mathematical students.
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Scientific Serials. Nature 50, 141 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050141b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050141b0