Atmospheric electricity over the ocean

Although the different phenomena of atmospheric electricity have been thoroughly investigated over land, very little work has yet been done over the ocean, and on the few occasions on which experiments have been made, the observations have been too few to give conclusive results. It was thought that the long voyage from England to New Zealand of Captain Scott’s Antarctic ship “Terra Nova” would furnish an excellent opportunity for continuing these investigations. The plan of the work to be undertaken was:— (1) To investigate the electrical potential-gradient existing over the ocean. (2) To investigate the quantity of the radioactive products in the air. (3) To measure the number of free ions over the ocean. (4) To investigate the ionisation of the air in a closed vessel, with the object of determining the presence or absence of a penetrating radiation over the sea.