XVII.—The Mean Pressure of the Atmosphere and the Prevailing Winds over the Globe, for the Months and for the Year. Part II

Abstract

Charts, showing by Isobaric Lines the mean pressure of the atmosphere over the globe during the months of the year, may be justly regarded as furnishing the key to all questions of meteorological inquiry; for without the information conveyed by such charts it is impossible to discuss satisfactorily those questions which relate to prevailing winds, the varying temperature, and the rainfall throughout the year in the different countries of the world. It is to meet this desideratum that the Charts of Mean Atmospheric Pressure of the globe which are given with this paper are offered as the first approximate solution of this great physical problem.Since Part I. was read in March 1868, valuable additional information has been obtained from Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Africa, South America, the west coast of North America, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and from several isolated stations in different parts of Europe and Asia. The period for the British Islands and a large portion of Europe has been extended so as to include the eleven years from 1857 to 1867.