30 



TEMPERATURE. 



Table 9. 

 To show Rise in Temperature over the North of the Barrier during March, 1912. 



Atkinson's temperature.s sbow a great rise on tho.se experienced by Cherry-Garrard nearly 

 a foi-tni"ht before, and this is more easily realised by examining figure G in which the rise 

 between Cherry-Garrard's last observations and those of Atkinson is clearly shown. These 

 observations and the general trend of the curves in figure G can leave little doubt that 

 the temperatures experienced by the Polar Party were abnormally low. Captain Scott was well 

 aware of the rapid fall in Barrier temperature during February, but his statement in his 

 wonderful Message to the Public that ' no one in the world would have expected the tem- 

 peratures and surfaces which we encountered at this time of year ' was certainly justified. 

 It is difficult to discuss the records of this period mingled as they are with such tragedy, 

 but they clearly bring to light the possibility of great cold at an extremely early period 

 in the year within a comparatively few miles of an open sea where the temperatures were 

 over 40 degrees higher. The cause of these low temperatures will be considered later, 

 after other temperature conditions have been discussed. 



Monthly Values of Barrier Temperature.— T:he actual observations of temperature on the 

 Barrier are far too few to determine directly the mean monthly Barrier temperatures, but 

 an indirect method allows us to form some idea of this important factor. It is well known 

 that variations in meteorological conditions are generally similar over fairly large areas. 

 Thus the differences in a meteorological element between two stations undergo much smaller 

 changes than the actual element itself, and while many years may be necessary to find 

 the mean value of the element at cither station, a much shorter time is necessary to 

 obtain a reliable value of the difference. If, then, we know the mean value of the element 

 from a long series of observations at one station and the difference between that and 

 another station from a short series, the mean values at the latter can be obtained by 

 applying the known differences to the mean values at the former. We now have temperature 

 data for McMurdo Sound for five years, from which the mean monthly temperature can 

 be obtained with some fair degree of accuracy, and these values are given on page 81 

 below. We have now to see if it is possible to determine from the few available data the 

 difference between McMurdo Sound and the Barrier. 



The temperatures measured on the Barrier have been divided geographically into the 

 regions north and south of One Ton Camp, 791" S. This geographical division is not all 



