PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 



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Table I. Mean Temperature of the Surface Water of the Ocean round 

 Iceland for the Period 1872 1906. (Centigrade scale used.) 



The temperature-conditions of the coastal districts correspond 

 very closely \vith those of the ocean. The north-east coast has, on 



V * 



an average, a mean winter-temperature of from - 2 to 4 C. ? 

 a summer temperature of 6 to l l /2 Q C., and a mean for the 

 ^yhole year of 1 to 2C. ; while the south-west coast has a winter 



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temperature of to - - 2 C., a summer temperature of 9 to 10 C.,> 

 and one for the whole year of 3 to 4. When the Greenland drift- 

 ice blockades the coast, the difference between these temperatures 

 is considerably greater, in the severe ice-year, 1881, the difference 

 between the temperature on the isle of Grimsev and in the Vest- 

 mannaeyjar, from January to March, was 10V2 to 14 C. , while 

 normally in these months it is only 3 l /2 to 5 1 /2; in the same 

 months (in 1881) the difference of temperature between Stykkisholm 

 and the Vestmannaeyjar was 7 to 10 C., while normally it is only 

 3 to 4. Therefore the temperature varies very greatly from year 

 to year, and so also does the mean of the different months. For 

 instance, take the month of March: at Stykkisholm the highest 

 mean temperature in a period of 33 years was 2.9C. ; and the 

 low r est mean in the same period w^as 13.3 C. From this it will 

 be seen that the Polar current, and especially the drift-ice, exercises 

 a great influence upon the climate in Iceland and thereby upon 

 the vegetation and the means of sustenance of the people. When 

 the Polar ice arrives at the north coast the temperature immediately 

 falls: when in May and June the people who live in South Iceland 

 see that it is snowing on the mountains, they at once take it as a 

 sign that the dreaded drift-ice is about to blockade the coast of 



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