Abstract
AT the meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh held on Monday last, Mr. John Murray, Vice-President, in the chair, Mr. R. T. Omond, Superintendent of the Meteorological Observatory on Ben Nevis, delivered, at the request of the Council, an address on two years' residence and work there. Mr. Omond, at the outset, recalled the advantages which Ben Nevis presented as a high-level meteorological station, the services of Mr. Clement S. Wragge, and the chief steps that led up to the erection and equipment of the existing permanent observatory. Glancing at some of their daily experiences during last summer and autumn, he mentioned that some 3000 or 4000 tourists climbed the mountain-sometimes at least 100 in a single afternoon. Since the middle of October, however, not more than half a dozen strangers had ventured up. Some came for information; others were disappointed at rinding they could not be fed as well as sheltered; others came to spend the night, but owere disappointed at finding they could not clo so. Most of the visitors, however, were satisfied, though a little astonished, by the explanation that the building on Ben Nevis was primarily a scientific observatory, and not a hotel. Storms of exceptional and terrific violence were described. Beautiful optical phenomena that had been witnessed, and the comparative scarcity of animal life on the mountain, were next alluded to. Rainbows are seldom seen. Thunderstorms are very rare. The temperatures during winter are not so low as many people think-10° F. is about the lowest recorded as yet, and the ordinary winter temperatures ran from 15° to 25°. Observing that much must yet be done in the work of the discussion and interpretation of the observations made on Ben Nevis, before the observations could be safely used, he proceeded to state some of the more interesting points which Mr. Buchan had already succeeded in approximately establishing: (1) The normal or average temperature and barometric pressure for each month, and the normal differences between these averages and those at sea-level. (2) The daily variation of temperature and pressure during each month. (3) The daily variation in the average velocity of the wind-this being shown to be greater at night than during the day, exactly the reverse of what holds good at sea-level. (4) Variations in the direction of the winds as compared with those prevalent over Scotland at any given time. A comparison of the Ben Nevis winds with those at low-level stations sometimes shows that both are part of one system, whether cyclonic or anti-cyclonic; but the direction is almost always different, and in the case of cyclonic storms, coming from the west. The observed differences in direction seem to give an indication as to whether the storm centre is to pass to the north or south of Ben Nevis. If this point can be definitely made out, it will obviously be of immense value in forecasting weather. (5) The hygrometric observations indicate that the atmosphere on the Ben shows that during ordinary weather a state of persistent saturation, usually accompanied by fog or mist, prevails; but occasionally a sudden and extraordinary drought sets in, the temperature rises, and the sky clears, not merely of fog, but often of every vestige of cloud, and at the same time the valleys and lower hills are often shrouded in mist, showing that this dryness coming from above is not able to penetrate right down to the sea-level. The thorough investigation of these phenomena is one of the most important pieces of work connected with the Observatory, and may be expected to throw great light on the question of atmospheric circulation. (7) The rainfall of Ben Nevis is greatly in excess of what several theories of the distriou-tion of rain led them to expect-a result possibly due to the great vertical movements of the atmosphere indicated by the hygrometiic indications referred to above. Though there are many high-level stations in different parts of the world, none, perhaps, are so favourably situated as Ben Nevis for the investigation of what he had explained is the present great problem in meteorology, namely, the vertical movements of the atmosphere. If the Scottish Meteorological Society were possessed of sufficient funds to establish a completely-equipped observatory at the foot of Ben Nevis as w ll as on the summit, he was convinced that the science of meteorology would advance far more in a few years than it would by a generation of ordinary work with low-level stations alone.
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Ben Nevis . Nature 32, 17 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/032017a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/032017a0