408 Chapter VII. 



lead line down it, and at 30 feet it again brought up 

 against ice. Now they were obliged to give it up. A 

 fine lump of ice we are lying on ! Not taking into 

 account a large, loose ice-floe that is lying packed up on 

 the ice, it is 16 inches above the water ; and adding to 

 this the 2 feet which the Fram is raised up above the ice, 

 there is no small distance between her and the water. 



The temperature on the ice in summer is about 

 thawing point, but gradually as the winter cold comes 

 on, it, of course, falls rapidly on the surface, whence the 

 cold slowly penetrates deeper and deeper clown towards 

 the lower surface, where it naturally keeps at an even 

 temperature with the underlying water. Observations 

 of the temperature of the ice in its different layers were 

 constantly taken in order to ascertain how quickly this 

 cooling-down process of the ice took place during the 

 winter, and also how the temperature rose again towards 

 spring. The lowest temperature of the ice occurred in 

 March and the beginning of April, when at 1*2 metres it 

 was about 3^2 F. ( 16 C.). and at crS metre about 

 22 F. below zero ( 30 C.). After the beginning of 

 April it began to rise slowly. 



At these low temperatures the ice became very hard 

 and brittle, and was readily cracked or broken up by a 

 blow or by packing. In the summer, on the other hand, 

 when its temperature was near melting-point, the ice 

 became tough and plastic, and was not so readily broken 

 up under packing. This difference between the condition 



