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2. Note on the Determination of Heights, chiefly in the Interior of Continents, from Observations of Atmospheric Pressure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2014

Alexander Buchan
Alexander Buchan
Affiliation:
Secretary of the Scottish Meteorological Society.
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Extract

The weight or pressure of the atmosphere is ascertained by the mercurial barometer, the aneroid, or from the temperature of the boiling point of water. The height of a hill is measured barometrically, from observations made simultaneously at its base and top, and the application of certain well-known formulæ. The height of a place at no great distance from another place whose height is known, and at which observations are made about the same time, may similarly be ascertained with a close approximation to the truth.

But, with regard to places far from any place of known elevation, or from any place at which meteorological observations are made, it is plain that the height can only be computed by assuming a certain pressure as the sea-level pressure at that place.

Type
Proceedings 1868-69
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 6 , 1869 , pp. 465 - 472
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1869

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References

page 467 note * The height of Lake Balkash, according to the Russian explorers Ssemonoff and Golubeff, may be anywhere between 530 feet as given by the former, and 1200 feet as given by the latter. For a large number of heights made use of in writing this note, the author is indebted to Mr Keith Johnston, jun.

page 469 note * Regnault's Tables, revised by Moritz.