Daily Post - 23.07.1941, Blaðsíða 3

u A1 L l' rO S<T
”A Deep Depression Över
Iceland Is Noving Rapidlj”
By Peter fiOdson

}
Do you remember
those celebratfed words,
used countless times by
BBC in their peace-time
weather forecasts? In
this article Sgt. Peter
Kidson describes Ice-
land’s significanc'e as a
weather forecasting
country.
Its name alone has not been
the only cause of the cold shud
ders which oppress folk at
home, when Iceland is menti-
oned. For years we havte been
accustomed to hear of depres-
sions over Iceland, until most
of us imagined the island to be
constantly enveloped in storm
and its inhabitants shrouded in
gloom. 4
But how many of us really
know what a depression is —
in the metereological sense of
the world?-
According to the text-books,
it is an “area of low atmosp-
heric pressue,' into centre of
which the air blows in an anti-
clockwise direction north of
the equator.’’ It is invariably
accompanied by raid or snow
and wind. the severity of the
weather depending on the
lowness or pressure at the
centre.
EXPERTS PUZZLE.
Now, where do all these de-
pressions come from, and how
is it that they always seem to
be attracted to Iceland? Well,
Weather experts all over the
World have tried to find some
answers to these questions, but
no-one has yet really succeed-
ed. This much is fairly certain,
that they usually form over the
sea, where the air is moist, and
in regions where there are
sharp variations in tempera-
ture.
In the western Atlantic near
Newfoundland and Greenland,
conditions are therefore very
favourable for their formation.
The prevailing south west
Winds are laden with moisture
absorbed from the great ex-
panse of ocean, and the air is
subjected to extreme changes
of temperature, due to the
xneeting of the warm Gulf
Stream from Mexico, and Arc-
tic currents which sweep down
the eást coast of America. The
whole atmosphere thus ibe-
come disturbed and extensive
areas of low pressure arise.
SOUTH OF ICELAND.
Most cf these Atlantic de-
pressions follow a roughly
easterly course from NeW-
ofundland, and usually pass
between Iceland and Scotland.
They are, in fact, often as near
or even nearer to the northem
half of the British Isles than
to Iceland. But it is no doubt
more conventient for the met-
erelogists to throw the blame
on inocent Iceland by giving
their positions as south of Ice-
land rather than west or north
west of Scotland.
It is true to say that they
generally bring worse weather
to Britain than to the Iceland-
ers. In any case Northern Ice-
land is outside' the range of
most of them and consequently
enjoys drier and more settled
weather than the Reykjavík
area. Instead the North has fi-
erce blizzards which, from time
to time, come raging down'
from the great high pressure
belt of the Arctic. But they
have no conneotion with the
Atlantic, or so-called Iceland-
ic depressions.
GERMAN ANXIETY.
In view of its position just
north of the route of the de-
pressions, Iceland is of enor-
mous importance in forecasting
the weather in the British
Isles, Norway and Germany
That is one of the chief rea-
sons why the Germans have
reason why the Germans have
been so anxious to secure
bases here. They sent several
costly scientific expeditions be-
fore the war, and a short time
ago a German trawler enga-
ged in metereological observa-
tions was reported to have
been captured off the North
coast. Last autumn a party of
'*5
Mecting Air Attack

The unceasing work of British minesweepers in keeping the har-
bours, channels and sea approaches free from enemy mines if
of utmost importance. — These craft are often attacked by enemy
aircraft but put up such an excellent defence that many raiders
have, fallen to their guns.
RADIO NEWS
Wednesday: Section of the
Foroe Orchestra, and Variety
Priogramme.
Thufsday: “Birds of a Feat-
her“, D. L. I. Oonoert Party.
Friday: Light Classjcail Gon-
bert, and a talk on features of
Icielandic life.
Sunday E. N. S. A. Oonoert
Party.
German scientists with com-
plete metereolo^icai equip-
ment, was detected in Green-
land. From these points they
could have given an accurate
description of weather condi-
tions in the British Isles for
the next 24 hours — extreme-
ly valuable information for the
German night bombers.
As it is we have the advan-
tage of being able to draw a
full weather charter for the
north Atlantic and Western
Europe, which greatly facilitat-
es our air and sea occupations
in these areas.
Big fiDos Big Money
THOUSANDS of pounds go up
in smobe every time the big
ships of the Navy go into battle.
Eaach shell our big battleships
fine weighs as much as a me-
dium-size car. Every time a triple
salvo is fired it oosts 700 potmdg.
Nowadays, of oourse, torpedoes
fited from planes play a great
part in naval warfane. Each tor-
pedo weighs a ton and oosts 3,000
pounds. A torpedo is one of the
most extraordinary weapions of
miodern warfaie, and has to be
made with as much precision as
the most delicate chronometer.
Actually, it is a miniatuie battle-
ship in itself. 500 lb. of that dead-
ly high explosive, T. N. T., is
packed inside it, and. its bullet-
nosed case is divided into seven
separate compartments. It is re-
leased by a cartridge, and the
torpedo strikes the water at tin
acute angle befone it finds its
depth; it then goes off in a
dead straight line, without auy
deflection, towards its target.