Full Text
Measurements of the Strength of Radio Reception, Atmospheric Ionization, and Other Meteorological Elements During the Solar Eclipse of April 8, 1921
During the solar eclipse of April 8, 1921, thanks to the kind assistance of the Deputy People’s Commissar Liubovich, I organized parallel measurements of the strength of radio reception, atmospheric ionization, and other meteorological elements.
The signals were sent by the Moscow powerful radio station on Khodynka.
Reports on the observed strengths of reception at various moments of the solar eclipse, by the ohm method and by galvanometer, have so far been received from Moscow (2 points), from Saratov, and from Minsk. Measurements of ionization were made in Moscow (near the transmitting station).
The instruments for the measurements were provided through the kindness of Academician P. P. Lazarev and Professor A. P. Sokolov. The results of the observations are brought together in the appended tables. The beginning of the solar eclipse in Moscow, by decree time, was 1 h. 20 m.; the maximum obscuration of the sun was at 2 h. 40 m.; the end was at 3 h. 58 m.
Strength of reception.
(The figures for Saratov, Minsk, and Protopopov give the strength of reception by the ohm method; the figures of Rzhevkin and Vvedenskii were obtained by galvanometer.)
| 12½ | 13 | 13½ | 14 | 14½ | 15 | 15½ | 16 | 16½ | 17 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hours | 12½ | 13 | 13½ | 14 | 14½ | 15 | 15½ | 16 | 16½ | 17 |
| Saratov | 4.76 | 4.76 | 7.69 | 9.09 | 11.11 | 5.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 | — | 5.00 |
| Minsk | — | — | — | 25.0 | 33.3 | 31.3 | 17.9 | 17.9 | 14.3 | 14.3 |
| Moscow (B. A. Protopopov) | 3.13 | 3.03 | 4.17 | 6.67 | 7.69 | 5.88 | 4.44 | 4.88 | 3.77 | 4.17 |
| Moscow (S. P. Rzhevkin and B. A. Vvedenskii) | — | 17 | 15 | 17(?) | 18 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 13 |
maximum.
Ionization.
| 12½ | 13 | 13½ | 14 | 14½ | 15 | 15½ | 16 | 16½ | 17 | 17½ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dispersion of negative charge. By the Gerdien instrument (V. I. Baranov). | — | 0.50 | — | 0.77 | 0.85 | 0.77 | 0.73 | 0.78 | 0.36 | 0.43 | 0.26 |
| Dispersion of positive charge. By the Ebert instrument (A. Irisov). | — | 3.0 | — | 2.9 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 3.0 | — | 3.5 | — | 2.6 |
| By the Schmidt instrument (E. V. Shpolskii and V. V. Shuleikin). | — | — | — | 0.25 | 0.20 | 0.15 | — | 0.25 | — | — | — |
minimum.
The strength of reception at the moment of greatest obscuration of the sun passes through a maximum, while the ionization of the atmosphere passes through a minimum (it lags behind).
Similar measurements for radio signals from Paris were carried out by Take und Vos (Ber. d. D. Phys. Ges. 10 (1912)) during the solar eclipse of April 17, 1912, and they obtained the same result.
V. A. Kirchagin (Physical Institute of Moscow University) carried out measurements of the polarization of sunlight.
Polarization of sunlight.
| 12½ | 13 | 13½ | 14 | 14½ | 15 | 15½ | 16 | 16½ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polarization R. | 0.53 | 0.51 | 0.50 | 0.47 | 0.44 | 0.40 | 0.34 | 0.26 | 0.40 |
A shift of the minimum from noon was detected.
Finally, B. V. Deryagin (Physical Institute of the Moscow Scientific Institute), working with a de la Colonge deflector, with an accuracy of up to 0.3%, did not detect during the solar eclipse any change whatever in the magnetic elements of the earth.
The present communication has been compiled on the basis of not all the observed figures. A complete and precise report on the results obtained will be published.
Institute of Biological Physics.
Moscow.
B. Il’in.