96 HOBBS— CHARACTERISTICS OF THE [April 22, 



found to be nearly plane. So far as known, no eskers have been 

 observed about the border of the inland-ice of Greenland and only 

 a few irregular kames near Olrik's Bay.^^ 



Nourishment of the Greenland Inland-ice. 



Feiv and Inexact Data. — The problems involving the gains and 

 the losses of the inland-ice of Greenland require for their satis- 

 factory solution a much larger body of exact data than we now 

 possess. Barring a few scattered and not always exact or reliable 

 observations, we are practically without knowledge of the amount 

 or the variations of atmospheric pressure, or of snowfall away from 

 the coastal areas of the continent. Even within these marginal 

 zones, the losses from ablation and through the calving of bergs 

 have been estimated by crude methods only. Again, the great 

 height of the ice surface within the central plateau, and the lack 

 of any knowledge of the elevation of the land surface in those 

 regions, has raised questions concerning the conditions of flow and 

 of fusion upon the bottom, which will probably long remain sub- 

 jects of controversy. 



An international cooperative undertaking with one or more sta- 

 tions established in the interior at points where altitude has been 

 determined by other than barometric methods, and with coast 

 stations maintained contemporaneously and for a period of at least 

 a year, particularly if they could be supplemented by balloon or 

 kite observations, would yield results of the very greatest impor- 

 tance.^® The Greenland ice having shrunk greatly since the Pleis- 

 tocene period, it is almost certain that its alimentation to-day does 

 not equal the losses which it suffers along its margins — which in 

 but slightly altered form applies to the Antarctic continental glacier 

 as well. 



Snozvfall in the Interior of Greenland. — Almost the only data 

 upon this subject are derived from a rough section of the surface 

 layers of snow, as this was determined by Nansen with the use of 



^ Salisbury, /. c, p. 809. 



°^ Robert Stein, " Suggestion of a Scientific Expedition to the center of 

 Greenland," Congres Intern, pour I'fitude des Regions Polaires, Brussels, 

 1906, pp. 1-4 (separate). 



