Meteorology and Geophysics at the British Association

Abstract

MOST important contribution was made by Mr. J. I. Craig, who was unfortunately unable to be present at the meeting. The abnormal warmth of 1911 in Europe prompted Sir Edward Fry to ask in NATURE if the phenomenon was world-wide. Mr. Craig was able to reply for Egypt in the negative, inasmuch as the summer there had been cooler than usual, but he was struck by the definiteness of the opposition, and began to investigate the relation between temperatures in Egypt and south west England, based on values for the past thirty-four years. He found that the departures from the normal in the two countries were in opposite directions in all seasons, as indicated by the correlation coefficient, but the results were much more definite for the first and last quarters of the year, when the values of r were —0.72 and —0.43 respectively. Mr. Craig then proceeded to calculate the values of r between Egypt and other European stations, and by using the values found he drew lines of equal correlation. A little thought shows what a powerful method he has inaugurated for dealing with the problem of centres of action and for localising the centres in a definite manner. It will be for each country in the future to work out the monthly or seasonal iso-correlational lines with itself as base, and to use the charts obtained in determining what information will be useful to it in making its own seasonal forecasts.