CLIMATE OF THE SOUTH POLAR REGION. 317 



regions may be briefly considered. While there is a great lack of continuous 

 meteorological observations in the southern seas — absolutely none having 

 been taken on land, near or within tlie Antarctic Circle — enouo;h is known 

 to justify the statement that the temperature conditions there are very diflfer- 

 ent from those which prevail in similar high latitudes at the North Pole. 

 There we find a M^arm summer and a winter of intense cold. In the Ant- 

 arctic region, on the other hand, the temperature rarely, even in midsummer, 

 rises above the freezing-point. TIius the observations taken on board the 

 *' Erebus," during the month of February, 1841, between the parallels of 

 69° and 77°, gave as the mean of the month 24°.18 (F.). Only once during 

 that time did the maximum thermometer reach as hioh a fiiicure as .34°. In 

 corresponding Arctic latitudes the mean remains for three mouths above the 

 freezing-point. For instance, the mean of July at Port Foulke, latitude 

 78° 18', was 40°.54; of Van Rensselaer Harbor, 78° .37', 38°.19; of Port Ken- 

 nedy, 72° 01', 40°. 12. The mean of the three summer months at each of 

 these stations was 36°. 82, 33°. 38, and 37°. 40 : that of the three winter 

 months, — 21°.22, — 28°.59, — 35°.04. In Greenland, as we have seen, the 

 surface of the inland ice in summer is intersected by a network of rivers. 

 The Antarctic ice, on tlie other hand, is hardly ever spoken of by explorers 

 as exhibiting any signs of melting. 



These and similar focts indicate very clearly that the climate of the 

 southern hemisphere is peculiarly an oceanic one. Instead of comparatively 

 warm summers and intensely cold winters, we have — as has already been 

 noticed, in speaking of the climatic conditions of some of the islands in 

 much lower southern latitudes — very cool summers, and winters but very 

 little colder than these. The mean temperature of the year is, on the other 

 hand, believed to be high, as compared with that of the North Polar region, 

 since the comparative mildness of the much longer winter more than com- 

 pensates for the coldness of summer.* 



* See, for an elaborate discussion of the proliaMe cliniatic conJitions in high Southern Polar latitudes, 

 A. Miihry, in Klimatographische fJbersicht der Erde, Leipzig und Heidelberg, 1862, Appendix, Chapter entitled 

 "(Jberblick iiber die meteorologischen A''erhaltnisse der Siidliohen Polar-Zone, bis jenseits des Polar-Kreises." 

 Also, a review of the glacial and climatic features of both North and South Polar regions, by A. von Woeikof on 

 " Gletscher- und Eiszeiten in ihrem Verhiiltnisse zum Klima," in Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde zu 

 Berlin, Vol. XVI. ISSl, p. 246. Miihry inclines to the view also advocated by Petermann that there is probably 

 no extensive continental land mass at the South Pole, while Woeikof thinks that there may be, — at least "in the 

 highest latitudes." The latter, while admitting the general fact of a pre-eminently oceanic climate in the southern 

 hemisphere, considers it pretty well established that, south of the parallel of 40°, at least, the mean temperature is 

 higher than in corresponding latitudes north of the equator. If there is a large mass of land at the Soiith Pole 

 itself, however, he does not doubt that as low a temperature will prevail there as in the coldest regions of Siberia. 



