Abstract
THE MOON AND ATMOSPHERIC WAVES.—Lunar atmospheric waves, or air-tides, as they might be called, can, according to M. Bouquet de la Grye, be distinctly traced in the records of barometric pressure Collected at insular stations or stations situated close to the sea, where there are no powerful local disturbances to obscure them. In a contribution to the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, he reproduces curves of atmospheric pressure traced at Brest, St. Helena, Cape Horn, Batavia, and Singapore, which distinctly show a regular ebb and flow twice a day in accordance with the position of the moon. The amplitude depends upon the declination of the moon and upon its distance from the earth, and also upon the latitude of the place of observation. The maximum amplitude at Brest is about a quarter of an inch of water, which means a fiftieth of an inch of mercury, a small oscillation indeed, but one which is well within our limits of accurate measurement. At Batavia the maximum heights are half an hour after the passage of the moon through the upper or lower meridian. But the retardation is almost imperceptible in other places. This is probably due to the extrem e mobility of the upper strata of the atmosphere, and contrasts with the great retardation experienced by the ocean tides. M. Bouquet de la Grye points out the striking analogy between the ocean tide, with an amplitude of 1 m. under the equator, in an ocean having a mean depth of 5000 m., and the atmospheric tide of 2 mm. of water in a sea of air the weight of which, represents 10,000 mm. of water.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Our Astronomical Column. Nature 51, 516 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/051516a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051516a0