In 1930, the Smithsonian Institution was operating three solar stations in widely separated parts of the globe, namely Mount Montezuma. This instrument consists of two blackened strips of manganin sheet, each secured with a thermocouple in contact with the lower surface of the strip. From the length of the shadow the height of the sun was obtained (refraction neglected) and from this the mass of the air was read from the Bemporad "mass of air against height" plot.
The logarithm of the solar calories per square centimeter per minute was plotted against the air mass through which the sunbeam had passed. The changes in radiation due to changes in inozone in the path of the beam are small and were not taken into account in the work of this expedition. The ratio "minimum/smooth curve" is a measure of the precipitable water vapor that prevails in the path of the sun's rays through the earth's atmosphere.
During the observations of Fogo Peak and those in southwest Africa, including part of the first visit to Mount Ganzberg, a much larger area of sky was seen by the instrument. In all the rest of the observations in South-West Africa and in all the Sinai observations, a. Owing to the great skill of the native boys, the landing of ourselves and our boxes was made without mishap.
There appears to be more cloud cover, particularly cirrus, in the region north of Windhoek than further south.
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The scarcity of water in this extremely dry region, together with the fact that the ascent was about 6,600 feet, with practically no path, made the prospect quite dire. The base of the mountain, accessible by car, is less than 2,000 feet above sea level, compared to nearly 6,000 feet on the Ganzberg, and the summits are more than 8,500 feet, or 900 feet higher than the Ganzberg. Donnett could not arrange to accompany us up the mountain, although he was the guide to Zizab Canyon, where a considerable part of the route had no road.
The Zizab waterhole is frequented by a lot of game, including lions, so we slept in our car while the boys had a campfire all night to keep the wild animals at a safe distance. At the top of the waterhole we found huge boulders as big as quite large houses, and beneath some of them our guide showed us some of the old Bushman paintings on the rocks. Dissatisfaction was evident in their behavior, so about mid-afternoon, while they were resting, I climbed to a high point from which I could see the gorge, and found that there could not be much hope of improvement several miles away.
With more than 1,500 meters to climb and the boys' morale not being too good, there seemed to be no other choice but to abandon the attempt.
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The road then crossed an extremely arid and desolate area a short distance inland, but returned to the coast at the small port of Abu Zenima, which belonged to an English manganese mining company. On the first two trips we entered the mountains of Wadi Sidri, about 20 miles south of Abu Zenima, but on the third trip we continued to the mouth of Wadi Feiran, and remained in this wadi (or gorge) until. The Archbishop and the monks made it clear that they would like to see the establishment of a solar radiation station on or near Mount St.
As it is entirely due to the presence of the monastery that this wild region is safe from Bedouin brigands, and as the monastery controls virtually all the native labor in the vicinity, we were truly glad that those in charge were so kindly disposed to our undertaking. The main monastery is located near the foot of Mount Sinai, but there are also other smaller monasteries and sanctuaries under the supervision of monks, among which the sanctuary on top of Mount Sv. Due to the kindness and generosity of the monks, we were allowed to occupy guest rooms in the sanctuary on Mount Sv. .
To make sure it came from the monastery and not from some water hole that was as bad or worse than the polluted source, we arranged for the water boys on each trip to have a piece of paper with them, which could be kept in the office of the Head monk with the monastery seal had to be stamped and return to me when he brought the water. Katherine, or rather Gebel Zebir, which is located next to it, is the highest mountain in the Sinai Peninsula and in all of Egypt, with a height of about 2,000 meters above sea level. Mount Sinai (Gebel Musa), Gebel El Shomer and Gebel Serbal in particular stand out in the north, south and west respectively.
Beyond the mountains of Sinai, towards the west, is the Gulf of Suez, where, although it is more than 30 miles distant, ships may be counted daily. To the south appears the Red Sea, and to the east stretches of the Gulf of Aqaba, which separates the Sinai Peninsula from Arabia. The clearness of the brilliant sky was remarkable, equaling, if not excelling, the best afforded by northern Chile and Table Mountain, California.
When the last traces of the sun's disc were buried in itself this sharp layer of mist with distinct green rays; and surprisingly, we saw another green glow as the sun disappeared behind the distant Egyptian continent. The most remarkable feature of the weather, especially for March and early April, was the absence of wind. 4 SITE FOR SOLAR STATION— MOORE 19 and satisfactory days totaled nearly 95 percent, while there were 84 percent of days with light wind.
During June, however, the wind was rated as moderate or fresh on over half of the days. From above it can be seen that during the four months of March, April, May and June, the main disadvantage of the weather conditions on Mount St.
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John Ball, in charge of the Desert Survey of Egypt, for valuable advice and providing an excellent map of the Sinai Peninsula; to dr. Robert McClenahan, Dean of American University, about whom we often asked for advice and help, and who recommended a reliable dragoman. Davidson in charge of the work of the Near East Foundation in Cairo; and to Mr. Salameh, of Cook's Agency, for their generous share in making our stay in Egypt pleasant. Observations to determine the suitability of several high mountains in the Eastern Hemisphere for sites for solar radiation stations were carried out on the island of Fogo, in the Cape Verde group; in South West Africa; and on Mountain St. Katherine in the Sinai Peninsula.
