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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 1956)
Dr. Frank Record, MIT mainstay who also spent the summer of 1953 here, checks the meter, which recorded the colorless tracer emitted from an isolated pipe. Tank (left foreground) is a mixer.—The Frontier Photo. Diffusion Days Are Over (Continued from page 1) scientists for their specific prob lem or problems, spells to us a city of temporary huts, a carload at test tubes, delicate anemome ters, wind vanes, electronic brains, computers, wind towers and acres of erect steel fence posts forming successive semicircular patterns in a big, empty pasture. Operation Diffusion might have been a more appropriate title, be cause other activities at the J. B. Ryan pasture went along for the ride. Or, better yet, Operation Confusion as the office wag tells it, because the layman doesn’t have a chance on these acres of pasture where there isn’t even a tree. Herr we are, six miles north east of O’Neill, a “run” about to get underway. Night or day makes not much difference to the scientists. Ft’s 2 p.m., and the wind is in a southerly direction Picture an isolated 3-inch pipe about two feet high protruding from the sod. It’s from that pipe the tracer (gas) is to be emitted. Fifty feet south is a giant meter, a mixing tank and a bottled gas supply Fifty meters north is a semi cicrle (with the arc to the north) of steel fence posts with delicate lest tubes mounted on each post. One hundred meters away, an other; 400 meters, another; 800 meters, still another. The samplers are exactly spaced 2 degrees apart (6 feet at the 50-meter arc; 46 feet apart at the 100-meter range). On the 800-meter semicircle, the tubes are 1 degree (or 46-feet) apart. Five hundred fifty test tubes art' perched atop these posts - - and surface hose connects to provide a partial vacuum in the, I UUl.il. Precision and exactness per vade tiie whole effort. The pipe sticking in the ground begins to emit the colorless tracer; the busy litle test tubes go to work. Wind must be generallv from the south in order for the tracer to penetrate northward into the network. At 2:30 p.m., the squad of runners with test tube baskets hustle the containers into the temporary air-conditioned labor atory. Acid in the bottles is measured in terms of ohms (elec trical resistance). Each reading is recorded. With the wind right, the pro cedure will be resumed again at 4 p.m.—with thoroughly rinsed bottles. If everything functions smoothly, there may be up to 10 minutes to spare between “runs.” Sometimes the MIT workers have been obliged to wait days for favorable weather. These tracer experiments were done in miniature back at Round Hill, near Boston, Mass., but the entire project was magnified and expanded for Prairiegrass. Meanwhile, the air force j weather detachment is sending ■ balloons aloft. These expend able. robot, free balloons are radioing back weather infor mation at regular intervals. The mobile detachment is from the Sixth weather squadron, Tinker field, Oklahoma City, Okla. A small L-20 aircraft, laden with weather graph instruments, bus ily plies the sky, making low level temperature and wind ve-1 ■£! locity readings. And, simultane ously. at very nearly surface lev el, the anemometers and wind vanes feed tiny impulses into electronic brains, recording mi nute changes in wind speed, di rection, velocity and other ne cessary data. The pilots are Lts. George Sex ton, a South Dakotan, and A1 Clark. Dr. Morton Barad, director of the project and a civil service employee in air force research, tells us not to fret over the vo luminous data being gathered at every nook-and-eranny of the big pasture where normally con tented cattle graze. “In a year or two we’ll have it all correlated and reduced to where we can work with it. “This is basic resarch,” the sandy, bespectacled family man explained. “Any portion of what we’re doing, without the support ing data from the rest of the project, wouldn’t mean much.’’ Doctor Barad learned back in 1953 that one day, several years hence, he would be taking a crew to O’Neill (or to sonte sim ilar place) and work toward the solution of certain problems. Even when the 1953 wind test group was returning to Cambridge, pa per work was being advanced for Project Prairiegrass. Scientists, like everyone else, have budget troubles. Their pri orities are fixed. Assembling costly equipment and getting per sonnel for the particular work is not easily accomplished two or1 three years in advance. Time passed. The '53 wind test—a minute study of wind turbulence at low level—became a voluminous me teorological book (a world stand ard) and even a documentary film was developed by the air force. But these came only after weeks and months of analysis and study. About a year ago the Prai- j rie Grass appeared to be a cer tainty. The project (smaller in scope than the ’53 test) was fairly well defined and only the domestic problems remain ed. O’Neill hospitality of ’53 and intimacy with the terrain and "housekeeping” services here al layed any doubts but what the project could proceed on schedule at O’Neill. During early 1956 Doctor Barad and Dr. Harrison Cramer of MIT came out to make preliminary arrangements. The people moved in en masse in May and now, ear ly September, Project Prairie grass is tucked away on rolls and rolls of graphs, stacks of magnet ic tape, thousands of feet of film, and mountains of charts. More now about the goings-on at hand. There are eight huts, a half dozen vans and a small fleet of utility GI vehicles including (you guessed it)—jeeps. Let’s look in on these other trailer outfits. The Wisconsin group, under Dr. Vern Suomi, primarily is con cerned with the heat budget and such problems as how much en ergy is reflected from a sandhill" How much from a cornfield? How much from a piece of prairie pasture? In some instances they send an aircraft aloft as far away as Iowa to gather compara tive data. Wisconsin also wants to study a theory of “hot spots”—areas in j the atmosphere where tomadic I storms are born. Who knows? This may lead to a highly suc cessful tornado warning network in our great land and save untold lives and help reduce property loss. Generally, Wisconsin’s re search, like during the wind test here in 1953, has agricultural and domestic application. Texas A&M likewise is con cerned with problems having agrarian features. The Texans are rigged to study the amount of moisture evaporation coming out of the earth—in this instance, the prairie. Roth the Wisconsin and Tex as A&M studies supplement MIT’S meteorological activity. Wisconsin’s Suomi headed the Badger group’s studies here in 1953. Texas A&M’s work is head ed by Dr. Maurice Halstead, who headed the Johns Hopkins uni versity project here in 1933, later transferred to College Sta tion with specific problems in! mind for O’Neill, 1956. Harry Moses of the Argonne National laboratories, Chicago, | 111., is an official observer} here; also Doctor Lettau, who is: remembered by Frontier readers as the chief metorological officer for the German high command during World War II and ranks today as one of the world’s lead ing weather experts. Focal point before the start of a test is the downtown headquar ters—located in a comfortable, improvised office at the Ryar haybarn premises. There a tele type machine keeps the project in touch with the weather bureau, getting regular reports as well as } facsimile charts from Washing- j ton, D.C. Pete Giorgio has been the chief , forecaster at the downtown nerve j center most of the summer. Pat Harney, another repeater from '53, has been the air force instru • ment man. Pat formerly was in the office of the U.S. weather bureau in Washington. "The summer has been un like the summer of 1953." la mented Doctor Barad. “Three years ago the wind would shift to the south and hang there day-after-day. “This summer we’d get an in dication on the charts the wind was shaping up for us. We work ourselves up to a fine, sharp point, ready for action. Often as not action never came. “But the weather has been un predictable everywhere this year in the upper half of the United States.' We’ve gotten in our licks and are pleased with what we have — even before the analyses have begun. “Distinguished observers have told us—and written us—we are doing basic research that should have been done long ago." About the future? Doctor Barad hopes he can present to higher echelons a case for perpetuating the O’Neill test site, just as his predecessors — Ben Davidson and Heinz Lettau, ’53 directors, had done. In any event, O’Neill will long live in the annals of meteorology based on what was done in 1953 and what is being finished today. And, within a week or two, placid cattle again will be graz ing where electronics brains were beating themselves out all sum mer. I Mending an anemometer tower: Ronnie Mot phy and James Tomlinson, both of O'Neill, and John Luby, Jr., of New Bedford. Blass. Young Lu by accompanied his father to O’Neill for the sum mer; Morphy »"H Tomlinson were among 3d high school boys used as runners and for odd Jobs on Project Pralriegrasa.—The Frontier Photo. Neligh Park Scene of Birthday Dinner EWING—A family party was held Sunday at Riverside park In Neligh honoring the birthday an niversaries of Mrs. Hannah Tut •le and her son, Vearl Tuttle. A | picnic dinner was enjoyed follow-] ud by ah formal afternoon. In attendance were the honor- j I ed guests, Mrs. Vearl Tuttle and family, Mr. and Mrs. Archie Tut tle and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Tuttle and family, all of E\v-1 :ng; Mrs Grace Schmit of Cal ifornia: Mr. and Mrs. Glen Tuttie ifornia, Mr. and Mrs. Glen Tuttle ! of Cherokee, la., and Mr. and Mrs L. H. Weis of Meridan, la. Other Ewing News %tr. and Mrs. Hans Peterson ind family went to Neligh Satur | day afternoon to join other rela | tives and friends in celebrating the 80th birthday anniversary of his mother, Mrs. Carsten Peter son. Weekend guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Elmert Berg strom were his brother and sis ter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Bergstrom of Omaha. Mrs. John Walker and son, i Bobbie, of Norfolk visited rela tives and friends in Ewing last week. Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Dierks went to Omaha Monday to take their daughter, Miss Sandra, there. She began employment there Tues-1 day. Miss Mary Alys Dierks carne home Friday from Omaha to spend the weekend with her par ents, Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Dieiks. She had been a guest of her cou sin, Miss Judy Jefferies of Om aha, for a few days during her vacation. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Spittler and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Regan pic nicked last Thursday evening at the farm home of Mr. and Mrs. George Jefferies. Mrs. Loyd West has returned j home after spending some time! with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. j G u s Perlensein, at Bonesteel,! S.D. John Black, USN, who has spent a 30,-day leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Black, and family and other rela tives, left Saturday to return to his base at Seattle, Wash. Mr. and Mrs. James Tinsley and children returned home from a 10-day vacation. They spent last week at Merriman and Gordon. They also went through Yellowstone park and the Teton national park. At McCall, Ida., they were guests at the home of his two brothers. Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Hadfield of Fullerton were recent guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eb ben Grafft Mr. Hadfield is a brother of Mrs. Grafft and Mrs. Hadfield is a sister of Mr. Grafft. • James Peers of the MIT staff takes readings on automatic computers (known as electronic brains). The machines inside a van recorded wind velocity, wind direction and temperatures. The van. laden with costly electronic equipment, has a safe speed of 1.V mph and was shipped to O’Neill In a rail box car.—The Frontier Photo. CHURCH NOTES METHODIST (Page-Inman; Rev. Lisle E. Mewmaw, pastor PAGE— ' Thursday, September 6: WSCS meeting, 2:30 p.m.; junior choir practice, 4 p.m.; choir practice, 8 p.m. Sunday, September 9: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m.; MYF, 8 p.m., with Miss Dorine Gleed of Chambers showing pic tures of the mission tour. Monday, September 10: First quarterly conference, 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 12: WSCS prayer hour, 9 a.m., Scrip ture lesson, Luke 12:31-41; young adult fellowship meeting, 8 p.rr. INMAN— Sunday, September 9: Sunday school, 8:45 a.m.; worship, 9:45 am. Tuesday, September 11: Fir: t quarterly conference, 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 12: Choir practice and MYF, 8 p.m. Thursday, September 13: WSCS meeting, 2:30 p.m.; official board meeting, 8 p.m. ASSEMBLY OF GOO (O’Neill) (O’Neill) Rev. E. Kirschman, oastor . 6 HOMOGENIZES vital tex Hit oils back Into your clothes. The finest drycleaning care money can buy—• end STA*NU costs not one penny extra. Sunday. September 9. Sunday school for all ages, 10 an, wor ship service, 11 am.; Christ's Ambassadors (youth), 7 pan, children’s service, 7 p.m.; evan gelistic rally, 8 p.m. Midweek service Wednesdays, 8 p.m. IMMANUEL LUTHERAN (Atkinson) Rev. E. G. Smith, pastor Sunday, September 9: Divine service, 9 am.; Sunday-school, 10:15 a.m.; Lutheran hour. 4 p.m. W.h\G (780 kc.) KKM ESTATE TRANSFER WD Forest M Sammons to r! ,a M Sammons 8-15-56 $6, 00-- S>* 13- SE'4 14-26-14 [•hone ns your nows—51. CHIROPRACTOR tfc Hick So. of Ford Garage Dr. J. L. Sherbahn Complete X-Ray Equipment O'Neill, Nebraska ANOTHER FIRST at BIGLIN’S WE HAVE IT... the only blind that makes your room The New Flexalum TWI-NIGHTER Only the new Flexalum Twi-Nighter blind gives you such complete light control you can turn day into night just by flicking the cord. 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