APPENDIX II 



REMARKS ON THE METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVA- 

 TIONS AT FRAMHEIM 



By B. J. BlRKELAND 



On account of the improvised character of the South Polar Expedi- 

 tion, the meteorological department on the Fram was not so 

 complete as it ought to have been. It had not been possible to 

 provide the aerological outfit at the time of sailing, and the 

 meteorologist of the expedition was therefore left behind in 

 Norway. But certain things were wanting even to complete the 

 equipment of an ordinary meteorological station, such as minimum 

 thermometers and the necessary instructions that should have 

 accompanied one or two of the instruments. Fortunately, among 

 the veterans of the expedition there were several practised observers, 

 and, notwithstanding all drawbacks,a fine series of observations was 

 obtained during ten months' stay in winter-quarters on the Antarctic 

 continent. These observations wall provide a valuable supplement 

 to the simultaneous records of other expeditions, especially the 

 British in McMurdo Sound and the German in Weddell Sea, above 

 all as regards the hypsometer observations (for the determination of 

 altitude) on sledge journeys. It may be hoped, in any case, that it 

 will be possible to interpolate the atmospheric pressure at sea-level 

 in all parts of the Antarctic continent that were traversed by the 

 sledging expeditions. For this reason the publication of a pro- 

 visional working out of the observations is of great importance at 

 the present moment, although the general public will, perhaps, look 



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