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XXXI.—Observations on Atmospheric Electricity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2012

C. Michie Smith
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Extract

The following observations on atmospheric electricity were made on the top of Dodabetta, between 3rd and 12th January 1885. The position of the electrometer, when not otherwise stated, was at a height of about 5 feet above what remains of the walls of the bungalow formerly used as a meteorological observatory. Dodabetta is the highest hill in the Neilgherries, and the bungalow was built exactly on the top, which is in latitude 11° 24′ 5ʺ·40 N., longitude 76° 46′ 44ʺ·39 E., and at a height of 8642 feet above mean sea-level. The top is free from trees, and my tents were slightly below, and at a sufficient distance off to prevent them interfering in any way with the accuracy of the readings.

Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , February 1886 , pp. 583 - 588
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1886

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References

page 587 note * The minimum thermometer gave readings varying from 32°.5 on the 7th to 40° on the 5th and 6th, with an average of 36°. It is interesting to compare this with the reading made in the Dodabetta observatory, and I have accordingly taken the observations for the five years from 1848 to 1852 for the corresponding days of January. I find the lowest recorded temperature is 40°.4, while the average is 45°.1, or 9° higher than the average which I got. Only a small part of this difference can be ascribed to the unknown error of the thermometer used then, and it is equally improbable that the present years was so much colder than any of the years during which the observations were made. The only remaining explanation is that, as popularly believed, the observer took his thermometers inside the hut that so he might escape the necessity of going out into the cold mist-laden air after nightfall.

page 588 note * Electrostatics and Magnetism, p.301.