Altitude

“ The choice of altitude is yours—whether to accept this current or mount higher and go with another. You may mount above the clouds, where one breathes oxygen from tubes, while the earth, in the last glimpse you had of it, seems to spin beneath you, and you lose all bearings; or you may descend and scud along the surface, aided by your guide rope and a dipperful of ballast to leap over trees and houses—giant leaps made without effort. ”

“ At this altitude, it requires a sharp eye to discern a man, but at length they are seen scrambling up the ravines and gullies and breasting the sharp pitches, until at last the first man arrives thoroughly used up and a string of fellows of lesser wind come in, in sections, all thoroughly blown. ”

“ When, after a weary climb, we find ourselves on the summit of a lofty mountain, and look back from that commanding altitude over the ground we have traversed, what is it that we behold? The minor details of the scenery, many of which seemed large and important to us as we passed, are now lost to view, and we see only the great and imposing features of the landscape, the high elevations, the town-studded valleys, the deep and winding streams, the broad forests. ”

“ Who on the face of the earth would think that at an altitude of four thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea, and in latitude nearly forty-one, and near the southern limit of the isothermal line, such nicely-flavored, delicate fruit could be raised! ”

“ And when they came again, one set forth this: "If it seem difficult to look at life in the big, close-at-hand, because the detail mountains seem to obstruct the view; then we must get altitude, so that these mountains, no matter how near, may dwindle to mole-hills at our feet, and our horizon stretch beyond the ends of the earth." ”

“ And then, again, how futile{4} to parade the altitude of our British mountains as evidence of insignificance. They laugh to scorn all such arithmetic, and many times in a single day will wrap themselves in some magic veil, and lift their peaks and shoulders round you, till scale and altitude as expressed in figures become practically a thing of naught. ”

“ Sometimes the foremost mountains are covered with dense masses of clouds, and the hinder ones appear majestically above them at an altitude, such as one can scarce believe possible for any thing firm to exist ”

“ At an altitude of 6,193 feet, or more than a mile and one-fifth above sea-level, the line of vision bounds a circle nearly a thousand miles in circumference; and within that circle are lakes, rivers, mountains, valleys, dark forests, smiling villages, and in fact a variety of scenery, ever changing as the gaze is [88]
[89] directed to the different points of the compass. In a clear day, the distant glimmer of the Atlantic may be seen, away to the southeast. ”

“ Tabulated altitude interpolated for increments of latitude, declination, or hour angle. If no interpolation is required, the tabulated altitude and computed altitude are identical. 2. Altitude determined by computation, table, mechanical computer, or graphics, particularly such an altitude of the center of a celestial body measured as an arc on a vertical circle of the celestial sphere from the celestial horizon. ”

“ FLYING ALTITUDE.—It is doubtful whether the disturbed condition of the atmosphere, due to the contour of the earth's surface, reaches higher than 500 feet. Over a level area it is certain that it is much less, but in some sections of the country, where the hill ranges extend for many miles, at altitudes of three and four hundred feet, the upper atmosphere may be affected for a thousand feet above. ”

“ The sky was charged with large and heavy clouds; and a broad, deep, and as it were stormy, tint of dark purple ... mantled every mountain which we saw--with the exception of our old gigantic friend, of which the summit was buried in the clouds. At a given distance, you form a tolerably good notion of the altitude of mountains; and from this latter view of those in question, I should think that the highest may be about 3000 feet above the level of the lake. ”

“ If, when you and the sun are between the equinoctial and the antarctic pole, the shadow falls towards the north, you will add the altitude you have taken to the sun's declination that day, and act according to the second rule. 5. When you have an altitude of 90 deg., you will be so many degrees distant from the equator as there are degrees of the sun's declination, and if the sun has no declination you will be under the equator. ”

“ Mine is of altitude, like that which you brought only yesterday. Altitude is a pretty good thing. If there are clouds, don't stay under them; they may be misty to pass through; but the light upon them from above is wonderful. ”

“ At times, upon the crest of the Continental Divide, and at an altitude of from ten to twelve thousand feet, I have covered from three to five miles in an hour. And again, while breaking a snow trail, creeping up treacherous glacier ice, or edging along the ledges, I have often reversed the digits, taking several hours to gain a single mile.
Then, too, no trip is taken twice under the same conditions. The mountains are never the same: the weather, the wind, snow or rain conditions may alter decidedly the footing upon their slopes. ”

“ The observed altitude of a heavenly body as seen at sea by the sextant may be converted to the true altitude by the application of the following four corrections: Dip, Refraction, Parallax and Semi-diameter.
Dip of the horizon means an increase in the altitude caused by the elevation of the eye above the level of the sea. The following diagram illustrates this clearly:
If the eye is on the level of the sea at A, it is in the plane of the horizon CD, and the angles EAC and EAD are right angles or 90° each. ”

“ Next, apply the altitude correction. Find the altitude correction table on the inside front cover of the Nautical Almanac next to the dip table. The altitude correction varies as a function of both the type of body sighted (Sun, star, or planet) and the body’s apparent altitude. ”

“ On all sides mountains rise to an altitude of from 11,000 to 15,000 feet, their skirts shaggy with pitch-pine forests, and scarred by deep canyons, wooded and boulder strewn, opening upon the mountain pasture previously mentioned. ”

“ This is a moderate altitude, even when compared with the eighty miles in question; and I could not help thinking that the subject admitted room for doubt, and great latitude for speculation.
But, in point of fact, an ascension being made to any given altitude, the ponderable quantity of air surmounted in any farther ascension, is by no means in proportion to the additional height ascended, (as may be plainly seen from what has been stated before,) but in a ratio constantly decreasing. ”

“ Being at a great altitude—1000 yards—when they smell the carrion, they are, if the wind is strong, more than a mile away from the animal, and as they fly round they gradually work up to windward, until the object is visible ”

“ The lowest altitude of the primitive plateau is marked by the ideal plane which would pass through the mountain-tops, and its superior elevation on the east would account for the flow of the waters, the gradual scooping out and the sloping of the valleys in the direction they now have. ”

“ The altitude of mountains depends primarily on the resultant of antagonistic agencies. There are the disturbances from below which push the mountains up, for were our earth solid and cold throughout its interior no fresh upheavals could arise. ”

“ The hills of known position near Advent Bay were likewise obscured by cloud, so that my three-legged theodolite had made this ascent to little purpose, but the panorama was clear in the main and the colouring all the richer for the cloud-roof.
We were standing at an altitude of about 3000 feet, [8] surrounded by peaks of similar, or rather greater, elevation. Let no one fancy that because these heights are insignificant there was any corresponding insignificance in the view. The effect produced by mountains depends not upon their altitude, but upon their form, colour, and grouping. ”

“ The most beautiful mountain landscape is always that seen from lower and medium altitude which disclose forest and stream and lake and the changing atmospheric hues of the lower valleys and wooded mountain-recesses. ”

“ The first stages of our journey will conduct us up the slopes of those mountains, from a plain which does not much exceed the sea-level, across a ridge of which the pass has an altitude of about 7000 feet, to plains which range between a height of 7000 and not less than 3000 feet above the sea. ”

“ An altitude may be taken of any body and after a suitable change in bearing has taken place (not less than 30°) a second altitude may be taken and the first longitude advanced for the run during the interval to the parallel of the latitude by dead reckoning at the time of second sight. ”

“ The till plains, although sweeping in broad swells of slowly changing altitude, are often level to the eye, and the view across them stretches to the horizon, unless interrupted by groves of trees along the watercourses, or by belts of low morainic hills. ”

“ This, therefore, at any instant defines the position where the sun is vertical; its latitude must equal the sun’s declination and its longitude in time equal the time since noon at Greenwich. Now at distance of 60 m. in every direction on the surface of the earth from the point thus defined the sun will have an altitude of 89° and in all directions at a distance of 1200 m. ”

“ We climbed over hilly and barren country to an altitude of 17,550 feet, where several small lakelets were to be found, and, having marched in all fourteen and a-half miles in a drenching rain, we descended into a large valley. ”

“ One has but to contemplate their present elevation, and remember the depth to which they descend in the ocean, to realize their tremendous altitude and the correctness of the description given by Plato. ”

“ Can you substitute altitude? Is altitude used of persons? "At an altitude of eleven feet from the ground." Would height be more natural? Does altitude betoken great height? If so, does Hamlet speak jestingly when he greets the player, "Your ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine?" What of the sentence: "The altitude of Galveston was not sufficient to protect it from the tidal wave"? Does the magnitude or importance of the object (Galveston) compensate for its lack of elevation and thus justify altitude? ”

“ The base line in any operation being horizontal and always a carefully measured one, the process becomes exceedingly simple. Let the altitude of the Sun be taken on a given day at 12 o’clock at the high-water mark on the sea shore at Brighton, in Sussex ”

“ When seen from high altitudes, a mountain appears merely as a part of a vast panorama or a single element in a wild, limitless scene of desolate peaks, which raise their bare, bleak summits among the sea of mountains far up into the cold regions of the atmosphere, where they become white with eternal snow, and bound by rigid glaciers. ”

“ No doubt the intensity of the attraction becomes weaker with every increase in the altitude, but that action would still exist to some extent, however lofty might be the elevation which had been attained. ”

“ The effect of the great and sudden change of altitude made itself felt at once; when I wanted to turn round in my bag, I had to do it a bit at a time, so as not to get out of breath. ”

“ But climate is here only a question of altitude. Out of these semi-tropical valleys you may climb in a few hours to the limit of vegetable life, and eat your supper, if you feel so disposed, on the slow-moving ice of a glacier. ”

“ Continuous highlands or plateaus seldom attain an elevation greater than a half or a third of the loftiest mountains; the most elevated range in altitude, from 8000 to 12,000 feet above the sea level. On an average, they lie about 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea. We take the last height as a convenient point of demarkation between the two classes of highlands—those of the first and those of the second magnitude. ”

“ The sun's altitude being known, and the edges of the projections of cloud shadows being parallel to the sun's rays: if we have a map of the country round the station, and mark on it the spots where the sun‘s rays strike through clouds, or where the shadows of clouds fall, the determination of the height of the cloud stratum is effected by plane trigonometry, if we observe the altitude of the precise points in the cloud. ”

“ The altitude will prevent extreme heat, and clouds or rain will be rare. The range of temperature and unsteadiness of the air will be diminished by placing them on hills a few hundred feet above the surrounding country. ”

“ In extensive continents the land may, by gradual elevation, attain great height, without any other appearance than that of a plane gently inclined, and if a hill placed upon such raised ground be described, as having its altitude equal to the whole space above the sea, the representation will be fallacious.
These mountains may be properly enough measured from the inland base; for it is not much above the sea. ”

“ If the convergence is measured, the exact distance from either station can be calculated, and if the angle between the cloud-point and the horizon beneath it is noted, it is a simple matter to deduce the actual altitude of the cloud. ”

“ Moreover, an elevation of 5,000 or 6,000 feet places us, especially in winter, to a great extent above the region of cloud, and thus enables us to enjoy a bright sun at time when clouds effectually cut off his rays from lower altitudes. ”

“ Spaciousness, remote altitudes, the sense of mystery which haunts apparently inaccessible mountain domes and summits reposing in the sky—these are the things which exalt the spirit and move it to see visions and dream dreams. ”