Liaison
With Military Agencies and Other Meteorological Services.-Constant
liaison was maintained with the Army Air Forces Weather Service and
with the Aerological Section of the U.S. Navy. Most of this work was
carried on through individual contact and correspondence under the
general coordinating guidance of the Joint Meteorological Committee.
There
were also frequent and important contacts with the Quartermaster Corps
on climatological problems and special projects for testing military
meteorological equipment; collaboration with the Offices of the U.S.
Engineers; with Army Signal Corps on design and supply of meteorological
instruments for military purposes; with the Army Map Service in the
production of charts and maps for meteorological purposes; with the
Marine Corps in various domestic weather-service problems and with
the U.S. Coast Guard in the maintenance of coastal patrol and storm-warning
stations. The Weather Bureau participated fully in the very extensive
vessel weather-patrol program in the North Atlantic maintained on
Coast Guard vessels with Weather Bureau personnel carrying on the
observational work of these ships at sea. The Weather Bureau, in cooperation
with the Civil Air Patrol, instituted a special program for weather
information and forecast service to all OAP units in the United States.
There
was continuous and the most cordial liaison and cooperation between
the U. S. Weather Bureau and the Canadian Meteorological Service prior
to and continuously throughout the war. The United States and Canada
cooperated fully on many of the most important weather projects of
the whole war involving the transfer of equipment, personnel, procedures,
instructions, and the exchange of data.
The Weather
Bureau also worked very closely with the Air Ministry Meteorological
Service of Great Britain. The British Air Ministry maintained a civil
meteorological representative continuously in Washington during the
latter part of the war to assist in this coordination.
Close
cooperation was established early in the war with the Mexican Meteorological
Service to develop and increase the network of surface reporting stations,
especially along the United States border. Of particular importance
was the establishment of several radiosonde stations and the training
of Mexican personnel for their operation. There was a marked extension
of the hourly-reporting stations alone the airways, required for the
greatly expanded air transport. The exchange of weather reports was
much increased, especially after Mexico joined the United Nations
at war.
Liaison
with the republics of Latin America as a whole was mainly featured
by the establishment of a wartime temporary school at Medellin, in
Colombia, South America, for training students in the rudiments of
meteorology. This program of education resulted from the collaboration
of the U. S. Department of State and Weather Bureau. Nearly 200 students
were enrolled in one year, a selected number of whom later received
graduate training at United States universities in the more technical
aspects of the subject. This project is covered in more detail later
under the caption, "Latin American Training Program."
Brazil,
in particular as an active participant in the war, cooperated freely
with the Weather Bureau, especially in connection with air transport
to provide safely for overseas flights. Exchanges of weather observations
was noteworthy, and even more so with the countries in the Caribbean
area where the inception and development of hurricanes is an important
factor.
There
was frequent liaison and cooperation between the Weather Bureau and
the Netherlands, principally in connection with ferry operations from
the United States. The same was true with Russia. Special meteorological
forms in the Russian Language were prepared by the Weather Bureau
for this purpose. Intermittent liaison with all the European Meteorological
Services was carried on by the Weather Bureau through its special
agents.
Expansion
of Observational Program.-After December 7, 1941,
it was necessary to reorganize the entire field service to safeguard
information, provide service to the general public and war industries,
and to meet the rapidly increasing needs of the military authorities.
This required a large amount of expansion of the synoptic and airway
observational network over ocean areas.
The most
important expansion of the observational program was the organization
of the so-called "Atlantic Weather Patrol," which provided specifically
for the taking of upper-air soundings by means of radiosondes from
ships stationed in mid-ocean. This project was begun at the direction
of the President in February 1940, with Coast Guard cutters being
stationed at two strategic points in the North Atlantic. The number
of ocean weather stations was steadily increased during the war to
a total of 22 maintained jointly by Great Britain, Brazil and the
United States, the latter operating 11 stations. The Weather Bureau
provided equipment and supplies, including personnel, for 18 vessels
for making regularly radiosonde, pilot balloon and surface observations.
The
American vessels were based at Norfolk, New York and Boston. Later,
they operated out of boston and Argentia, Newfoundland where the U.
S. Navy maintained a base. The vessels also stopped at the Azores,
Bermuda and Iceland. They remained at their ocean stations for periods
of two to three weeks. The meteorological staff aborad each ship consisted
of four men. Weather Bureau personnel assigned to weather ships were
selected from volunteers from land stations. The work was recognized
as both hazardous and essential, and the men were granted draft deferment
in most cases. Fortunately only one Atlantic weather vessel was lost
during the war. Four Weather Bureau men lost their lives on that occasion.
Early in 1944 the Weather Bureau men were given Coast Guard Temporary
Reserve ratings, which was continued until October 1945 when they
returned to civilian status.
The ship
reports were used by the Weather Bureau and the military services
and provided invaluable information for the ferrying of airplanes
for use in military combat and for other transatlantic flying activities.
With the termination of the war steps were taken to continue weather
patrol ships at strategic points to provide necessary meteorological
protection of transocean air traffic. In addition to their meteorological
functions, the ocean weather patrol vessels served as air navigational
aids and for air-sea rescue operations.
One phase
of this project which should receive careful consideration during
wartime conditions is the need for providing the same benefits to
Weather Bureau observers assigned to ship duty as those received by
regular military personnel. It is also important that the closest
possible cooperation be maintained between the Weather Bureau and
the Navy or Coast Guard regarding the structural requirements for
weather ships in connection with the meteorological program.
In addition
to many extensions of observational facilities within the continental
United States it was necessary to establish a considerable number
of observation stations in the territorial possessions and in foreign
countries. In nearly all of these cases stress was laid on the necessity
to provide upper-air information for military flying operations by
means of radiosondes and pilot balloons.
Four
radiosonde stations were established in Mexico at Mazatlan, Tacubaya,
Merida, and Ciudad Victoria in cooperation with the Mexican Meteorological
Service, the Bureau furnishing the radiosonde equipment and supplies.
The Weather
Bureau supplied the Canadian Meteorological Service with radiosonde
equipment and supplies for making scheduled observations at Arctic
bay, Baffin Island. Twice-daily radiosonde observations were begun
on April 11, 1943. A technician was assigned to Arctic Bay to make
the observations. During the following year the Weather Bureau detailed
two men to there for this purpose. Thereafter, the Canadian Meteorological
Service provided the personnel for operating the station.
At the
beginning of hostilities in Europe, wether reports from the French
possessions in the Caribbean area ceased. Observations and reports
were urgently needed from this area for ferrying operations to Africa
and operations of the Air Transport Command on the South Atlantic
route. Repeated attempts to secure weather reports from the French
colonies in this area failed because of the Vichy Government. In July
1943, the Wether Bureau, with State Department sanction, sent a representative
to Fort de France, martinique, to arrange for exchange of weather
reports with the French Antilles Government. Fortunately, the Vichy
regime under Admiral Robert was tottering and Henr Oppenot, head of
the French Mission in the United States, was replacing Robert as governor
of the colonies. Working in collaboration with American diplomatic
officials, arrangements were completed and an agreement was signed
whereby 3- and 6-hourly reports and upper-air observations, when available,
would
be transmitted to the San Juan office of the Weather Bureau for retransmission
to the United States. This agreement is still in effect and reports
and observations from the French Antilles are being used by the United
States wether services in the operation of civil and military aircraft
in the Caribbean area.
Similarly,
with the stepped-up African theater operations and to provide adequate
service for the "green" and "White" projects, arrangements were made
with the Dutch West Indies Governments for the exchange of weather
reports in late 1943. Under State Department sanction and in collaboration
with Admiral Chandler, Commandant of U. S. Naval Forces in the Dutch
West Indies, an agreement was considered whereby weather reports and
observations from the Dutch West Indies were transmitted to Puerto
Rico.
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