A comparison of the point of descent predicted from geostrophic flow and that actually observed was made by members of a graduate class of meteorology at New York University (Figure 57). Using an airplane fix
Figure 57
made during the flight the actual trajectory seems to have been well to the north of the "center of gravity" of predicted points of descent, and the actual flight path was considerably longer than that predicted. Since the pressure pattern at the eastern end of the flight was anticyclonic, this seems to be in accordance with the idea of super-geostrophic flow associated with anticyclonic systems. As in all the earlier cases where such a study was made, the balloon apparently moved across the isobars toward lower pressure.