Aeronautics -- Flights; Arctic regions; North Pole
The drawing up of the weather charts took place in one of “Fram’s”
afterholds, which (with this end in view) had been prepared as a
“weather forecast salon.” There was not overmuch room for all the
charts, instruments and other apparatus which had to be kept there,
especially as the hold also served the purpose of an office for Dr.
Matheson, the expedition’s doctor. But with goodwill from both sides it
worked smoothly the whole time, combining the weather forecasting with
the doctor’s practice in the same room.
After the weather forecasting was properly established I often had the
pleasure of receiving visits from the members of the expedition who
were housed on land. During the quiet periods when nothing special was
being accomplished, our two journalists were frequent visitors. In lieu
of something better to do, they wrote about the weather, simply because
it is always possible to say something regarding this subject. As the
time for starting approached, Captain Amundsen and the other polar
flyers often visited me in order to see what the prospects were. During
the times that “Fram” was not lying in safe harborage Captain Hagerup
was constantly in communication with the weather-forecasting station
in order to ascertain in good time whether wind was approaching which
might drive the drift-ice towards us. On the whole I could not complain
about the amount of faith that was placed in the weather forecasts, but
it was often necessary to reduce this trust by reminding every one how
little we really knew.
All the outside observations were made by the meteorologist, Calwagen,
Manager of the Meteorological Observatory in Bergen. His duties were so
numerous that they deserve a whole chapter in this report, but as it
has so far been impossible to make any preparation of the observations,
Mr. Calwagen’s calculations must be reserved for later publication
in scientific journals. With Mr. Calwagen’s permission I shall only
mention here that part of his activity which was of direct use in the
weather forecasts.
In order that nothing which happened concerning the weather conditions
should pass us unnoticed, Mr. Calwagen made observations as far as
possible each hour of the day, continuing until late at night. These
observations included wind, sky, cloud movements, cloud structure,
cloud altitude, rainfall, atmospheric visibility, atmospheric
temperature and dampness, the readings of the barometer, etc. Further
we had brought with us a case of self-registering instruments for
measuring the atmospheric temperature and the dampness. Inside were two
barographs--one in the ship’s instruments’ compartment, and one in the
weather-forecast compartment, which both gave information about the
changes in the air pressure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account