Abstract
THE American Meteorological Journal for August contains an important investigation on the movements of the air at all heights in cyclones and anticyclones, as shown by cloud observations made at Blue Hill Observatory. A record was made of the kind of each cloud visible, its direction of motion and relative velocity, and the observations, classified into five levels, were plotted by means of arrows on maps prepared for the purpose. The increased velocity of the wind near the centre of the cyclone and the decreased velocity near the centre of the anticyclone are distinctly shown. The arrows also show that the inclination of the wind to the centres of the two is not the same on all sides. In the cyclone the winds blow most nearly tangential south-east of the centre, and most nearly inward north or north-east of the centre; while in the anticyclone the winds are most tangential north-west of the centre, and most nearly outward south or south-east of the centre. In the cumulus region the cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation are still visible, but the general westward drift has become much stronger, while above that region that circulation is entirely masked by the drift. The diagrams also show that the currents do not all turn to the right as one ascends into the atmosphere, as is usually stated; when the winds have a northerly component, they show that the currents turn to the left as one ascends. The tables show that the circulation of the air is much more rapid in the higher regions than near the earth's surface, both in cyclones and anticyclones.
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Scientific Serials. Nature 48, 583–584 (1893). https://doi.org/10.1038/048583b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/048583b0