Aaron:  Ok, I'll bite.  Robert Madsen, Dull Knife College has been looking
at air movements inside hives with a temperature probe positioned every 1
inch of space in all dimensions.

He and I and others are still working to understand the data, but it is
pretty clear that convection currents circle the frames.  THe hot air moves
up, around and over the frames, the hottest spot moving as one might expect
with the sun, and changing from day to night.  This movement of air around
the frames (as a block) seems to be more or less the same, regardless of
whether bees are or are not in the box.  Its basically hotter air rising
and cooler air dropping, moving around the perimeter of the frames.

Now, between the frames is a different issue.  In this case, the air flow
seems to respond to the bees, and how they manage it changes with different
situations.  They will move hot air toward the part of the hive with the
hottest air (in the summer).  They often more or less mix the air for
maximum uniformity (less than 0.5 degree C difference) throughout the space
between any two combs, although the temperature between any two frames may
differ.

Although we don't fully understand what's going on, we do know that its not
a simple chimney, nor are we likely to predict it based on what we THOUGHT
we knew.

My analogy is that of a car and a heater or air conditioner.  We don't run
down the road on a very cold or very hot day with the windows open and the
vent open.  We recirculate the air, rather than exchange the bulk of it
with the outside.  Same seems to apply to bees in the hive.  Yes, they have
to generate heat in cold, exhaust heat in hot weather;; but they don't let
much warm or cool air, as needed, escape.

Jerry

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