Vízügyi Közlemények, 1936 (18. évfolyam)

Kivonatok, mellékletek - Kivonat a 2. számhoz

VIII. If this unsteady climate had not been for many centuries a peculiarity of this closed basin, and if the climate of this country, especially the Great Plains, had been made arid by human interference, such variations in the evaporation, the dewy days, the air moisture and the amount of rainfall would certainly have been impossible. In the météorologie literature it was Prof. Schmidt (Vienna) who introduced the conception of the dryness factor. From the rainfall data of Budapest, the author has determined these dryness factors as far back as 1863, and pointed out that during the last 75 years there occured summers with very great, and others with exceedingly small dryness factors. These great variations can be explained by the fact that the weather elements vary independently of each other. 5. Temperature. „As a consequence of flood control, the temperature in this country, especially in the Great Plains, has constantly been increasing, and the air has become hot" ; this is one of the heavy charges brought against water regulation. From the temperature data of Budapest, reaching back over 110 years, it is evident that both in the past and in the present the temperature of certain summers (Table XIII/a) and winters (Table XIII/b) was sometimes materially higher and at other times lower than the mean values of a hundred years. The heat of our summers was still greater in earlier times, and at present it seems that their temperature is becoming lower. The temperature diagrams over 110 years (fig. 12, page 160) undoubtedly show the extreme variations of our climate and its distinctly continental character. Droughts which occur rather often in this country, inflict great damage upon agriculture, therefore it is easy to understand the anxiety with which the farmers take up the accusing articles of certain journalists and „experts" who are not trained in these special questions, but are apparently endowed with benevolence. These people demand that the canals shall be filled in and the conditions prior to flood control reestablished in order to enlarge the evaporating water surface, and in this way increase the dew, the air moisture and the rainfall, and diminish the beat in summer and the cold in winter. In order to prevent the spreading of such false ideas and guard against the rise of such unreasonable demands, the only advisable method is the propagation of the météorologie knowledge in the widest circle of our population. For this reason the author calls the attention to the necessity of establishing a professorial chair of meteorology in the University, and refers to the importance of publishing the annual weather tables which are as yet prepared only in manuscript. Education in the subject, both in the high and middle schools, extending over many years, would create public enlightenment, and then the real specialists would not have to carry on quixotic war against such unscientific accusations. III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OE INLAND NAVIGATION ROUTES IN THE NETWORK OF COMMUNICATION. By L. VAS. (Pages 166—178.) This study was submitted to the XVI. International Congress held at Brussels (Section I : Navigation intérieur, 3. communication) ; its full text in German, French and English can be found among the reports of the Congress.