An Experiment on the Stability of Superposed Streams of Fluid

Extract

It is well known that the calm which commonly comes on a cold clear night is due to the cooling effect of the ground on the lowest layers of the atmosphere. It frequently happens that the wind at a height of a few hundred feet does not die down at all at night; in fact observations taken at the top of the Eiffel tower show that there is frequently a slight increase in wind at that height. The cooling of the air near the ground makes the lower layers heavier than the higher layers and thus tends to prevent the formation of turbulence at the earth's surface. Since it is only through the medium of turbulence that the higher layers are able to drag the lowest layers over the ground the surface air stops moving.