INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: THE PRECIPITATION RATIO AND THE METHODS FOR ITS COMPUTATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: April 16, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0
Wladyslaw Gorczynski
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0
Pxzeglad I1eteorolagiczriy i Hydralog?Czriy,
No 1-).~ (191.9), pages ~f - 3
STAT
 During the past few decades, the fluctuations in precipi~
tatiofl and in aridity have been the subject of studies by several
scientists. As early as 1920, Lang (see under No 2 on the bibli~
ographical list) attempted to introduce a certain factor that would
the fluctuations in precipitation in connection with
characterize
the temperature of the aire The tang factor was not very complex;
it was A sufficient to divide the depth of the precipitation (R) in
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0
I~A'~IO ANJ~ 7'H~ J~i~TJ-1QS~S FOR ITS COMPUTATION
ThE J?R~aC PITS J' ON ~.
Wiadyslaw Garszynski
INTRODU CfON
f ac tos in climatology are the following : the
The basic A
duration tensjty of solar radiation; the temperatures of
and earth; the pressure and the currents of the
the air, water,
end u on the general circulation of the atmosphere;
air, which de,r p
the moisture and the degree of cloudiness, as well as precipitation
in all of its forms.
Apart from these direct factors, it is extremely worth
while to introduce into the deliber, atic;ns some derivative fac
r, especially the precipitation ratio and the aridity factor.
tors, -
itation ratio serves first of all for investigations
The preca.p
on the variability of precipitation, Combining this factor with
the a so?called continental thermics leads to the aridity factor
which plays a role of primary importance in the classification of
climates.
STAT
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0
millimeters by the average temperature (T) on a 100?degree scale.
For a locality having a mean annual precipitation of 2O milli'
meters, for example, and an average temperature of 10 degrees
Centigrade, this factor will amount to 2. In the year 1926, Hirth
delineated isonotides [izonotidy] as the isarhythms [izarytmyj of
the factors introduced by Zang. Lange s concept was developed by
E. de Nartonne who arbitrarily enlarged the value of air temper
ature by 10 degrees in order to avoid negative values. in such
a way, this factor (the sowcalled index of aridity) amounted to
R: (T + 10), instead of the tang factor of R: T. E. de Mar tonne
n the bibliography published several dissertations on this
subject in which he computed the so.cal led aridity index for
different continents.
In Germany, Hellmann computed and made cartographic studies
t- t l` a '
of the relations between the maximum and the minimum annual pre-
cipitations. 1e introduced the quotient (Max) : (Min) in his
numerous published works.
The author of this article has occupied himself since 1917
with the degrees of the continental thermics with respect to
their
application to precipitation fluctuations. Shortly after the
ri
appearance of the first papers on cont3enta1ism, the author's
assistant, J. P. Rychlinski, applied the degrees of contientalism
to investigations of the fluctuations of precipitation in
Australia and in Tunisia. Unfortunately, these beginnings toward
the introduction of the aridity factor were temporarily halted as
a result of the premature death of Rychlinski in 1927 and because
of the author's own, numerous journeys over the years 19251936 for
Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R00020001 001 8-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0
the purpose of investigating solar radiation around the earth. It
was only in the second half o?' 1939, when the author arrived in
Washington as the polish delegate to the conference of the Inter?
national Geodetic and Geophysical Union, that the studies on the
aridity factor entered upon a new phase. The stay in the United
States, originally planned for a few months , was extended to the
midd:Le of 1947 dui; to World. tiJar II. This provided, the author with
the opportunity of devoting all of his time to the studies of the
aridity factors in California and in F'iorida. California is 1o-
cited in the southeastern part of the so-called American desert
which passes through Arizona, New Mexico, and. embraces one half of
thestate of Texas. For this reason, a whole series of papers
appeared on the aridity factor (see Nos 7 and 8 under the biblio-
graphy) during the years 19L~0-19L 64 the book Comparison of Climate
of theyUnited States and Europe, published in 1 ew York in l9L5,
contairi? a compilation of the results of these investigations
concerning the aridity factors in connection with the decimal
classif'?cation of the climates on the earth.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/03 : CIA-RDP82-00039R000200010018-0