Arctops

When the war began, Russia had 137 weather stations north of the Arctic Circle; Norway had 75, Denmark five. From Greenland to Alaska there were only seven little weather stations--four of them in Canada. U.S. Army air bases established during the war left enormous areas still uncovered.

This sketchy weather plotting has been tough on U.S. weathermen, for the chief cause of northern-hemisphere weather is the "heat balance" between the cold arctic air mass and the warm air near the equator. Lacking exact information about the extreme north, the Weather Bureau could only make shrewd guesses.

Last week a bill was creeping through Congress which would authorize the Weather Bureau to set up stations in the arctic. Eventually, the U.S. would have to ask Canada and Denmark to cooperate by lending or leasing sites.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials were going ahead unofficially with hopeful, picturesque plans. In charge of the project (nicknamed "Arctops") was Lieut. Colonel Charles J. Hubbard, a leading authority on arctic living and flying conditions.

Russia and Norway have a comparatively easy job keeping their arctic meteorologists alive and at work. Their stations can be reached by sea or land, while some parts of northern Canada and Greenland are accessible only by air.

Colonel Hubbard's plan calls for two main bases, one at Winter Harbor on Melville Island, the other at Thule in Greenland. Each would have a staff of about 50 men, with a powerful radio station and an airfield. Each main base would serve as headquarters for four satellite stations as much as 500 miles away, the maximum practical distance for supply planes. One station is planned for Peary Land, the farthest-north land on earth. Arctops may even put stations on the floating arctic ice, many miles from land.

Arctops may do more than merely keep the Weather Bureau supplied with data. Half a dozen sciences, from botany to terrestrial magnetism, hope to benefit. Scientifically, the American arctic is still untouched.

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