Discussion and illustration of problems suggested by the analysis of atmospheric cross-sections

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.