No. 7.J HIND — EFFECT OF ARTIC ICE. 421 



flowing Greenland warm current extends as far as Port Foulke, 

 in latitude 78° 20' N., the winter station of Dr. Hayes. Capt. 

 Sir George Nares states that " Port Foulke is at present the 

 best known station for winter quarters in the Arctic regions. A 

 warm ocean current, combined with the prevailing northerly- 

 winds, acting at the narrow entrance of Smith's Sound, keeps 

 the ice constantly breaking away during the winter, and causes 

 an early spring and a prolific seal and walrus fishery. The 

 moisture and warmth imparted to the atmosphere by the un- 

 covered water, moderates the seasons to such an extent, that the 

 land is richly vegetated, and therefore attracts to the neighbour- 

 hood, and supports life in greater abundance than other less 

 favoured localities." 



An inspection of Dr. Petermann's chart of the Gulf Stream 

 for July, enables one to see at a glance where the warm waters 

 rise to the surface in the Spitzbergen Seas in four different sea 

 areas. They must approach these areas as undercurrents. 

 Where " Polynias " exist in winter does not appear to be so well 

 ascertained. 



If the data I have assumed are even approximately true, the 

 influx of warm water towards the Arctic circle, either by Davis 

 Straits or by the Spitzbergen Seas, is in part the result of the 

 mechanical up-lifting, during a mean period of six months, in the 

 form of ice above the level of the sea, of a body of water sufficient 

 to cover an area of 23,000 square miles, one hundred feet deep, 

 at a temperature below 28 degrees Fahrenheit. 



The colder the season and the greater quantity of ice formed, 

 the stronger must be the north flowing current into the Arctic 

 Seas, arising from up-lifted ice and descending brines. A very 

 cold year may exert, by this means, a counteracting influence on 

 the next succeeding year ; but th$ retardation which must take 

 place in the progress of the south flowing Tidal Wave, subse- 

 quently referred to, by increase of ice in the Polar Sea, is a very 

 important element in the enquiry, and may give rise to unex- 

 pected oscillations of local climate, wholly apart from the influ- 

 ence of winds. 



The work of up-lifting the ice of the Polar Seas is effected 

 during a mean of six or seven winter months, and is equivalent 

 to a demand for two and a half times the daily capacity of the 

 Gulf Stream to be poured into the Arctic circle during that 

 period, or at the rate of the entire volume of the Gulf Stream in 

 seventy days, being some years more, and some years less. 



