Abstract
THE primary object of meteorology is to record the pressure, the temperature, the moisture, the electricity, and the movements of the atmosphere. It is desirable, however, that observations on these subjects should be combined with the elements of time and distance. At the general meeting of the Scottish Meteorological Society on June 26, 1867, I proposed the method, since generally adopted, of reducing the intensity of storms to a numerical value by the calculation of barometric-gradients, or in other words by dividing the difference of reading of any two barometers by the distances between the stations where such barometers are placed, thus introducing a nomenclature of universal application, by which the movements of any aërial current, and particularly the wind force of storms, may in every part of the world be reduced to one standard of comparison; and the calculation of thermometric, hygrometric, and electric gradients was subsequently proposed. Since then I suggested to the same society the extension of this system by the establishment of a series of barometers placed at short distances from each other in one or more than one direction in azimuth, so as to give horizontal atmospheric sections for pressure. By means of such lines of section the maximum gradient during storms might, from the nearness of the stations to each other, be ascertained, and thus the phenomena of local storms and other local atmospheric disturbances investigated with some hope of success; and since then a horizontal section extending landwards from the sea-shore has been proposed for temperature and moisture, chiefly with the view of determining the extension inland of the influence of the sea on climate.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
STEVENSON, T. Meteorologic Sections of the Atmosphere . Nature 9, 103–104 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/009103d0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009103d0