|
Abstract:
|
The preparation of atmospheric cross-sections, in which the fields of the various
meteorological elements are represented in the vertical plane containing a number of
synoptic aerological soundings, has long been a part of the technique applied to the
investigation of problems in synoptic meteorology. However, owing to the lack of adequate
observational material, the number of such cross-sections prepared in the past
has been very small. The method was applied only in a few cases chosen for careful
analysis and study. Consequently no uniform technique of analysis of such cross-sections
has been developed, nor have the possibilities of this method of synoptic investigation
received much attention.
In the fall of 1933 the author decided that the possibilities of the cross-section method
of synoptic representation warranted the systematic preparation and analysis of a large
number of cross-sections. For this purpose a number of periods during which the synoptic
maps seemed to indicate interesting atmospheric developments, and for which numerous
aerological observations were available, were chosen from the maps of the preceding
two or three years for detailed cross-sectional study. In all, ten periods of from
two to six days each were chosen, a total of 36 days, entailing the preparation of about
90 cross-sections, and the use of about 400 aerological soundings. |