No. 7.] HIND — EFFECT OF ARTIC ICE. 423 



4. The advancing warm current, apart from the etiect of 

 winds,* will ultimately check the formation of ice, and a retro- 

 grade movement will begin, if new channels have not been 

 opened. The place of meeting of the tides will move southerly, 

 and the oscillation described may continue for centuries. If, 

 however, a new channel should be formed for the efflux of ice in 

 the Spitzbergen Seas or the west side of Baffin Bay, very 

 considerable local changes in climate would result. 



5. If, owing to a gradual up-rising or depression of the land 

 area within the Polar circle, an increased or diminished quantity 

 of Polar ice should be produced, the mechanical effect would be 

 strongly felt in opposite directions, according to the character of 

 the oscillation. These supposed conditions may have thus greatly 

 influenced Arctic climate during past geological ages. Similar 

 reasoning applies to the Antarctic circle and the mechanical in- 

 fluence of Antarctic ice. 



If, for instance, an up-rising of the land, or its equivalent, a 

 lowering of the ocean level took place, one effect would be that 

 in the course of time the Polar Sea would become brackish 

 and ultimately fresh or glacial, more salt would be expressed 

 by freezing, and conveyed away by cold currents, than could be 

 introduced by the inflowing compensating currents through 

 diminished channels of ingress, which would gradually assume 

 the form of outward flowing river beds. The tidal wave would 

 be impeded, Northern Europe would become colder, and North 

 America warmer. 



On the other hand, a sinking of the land would greatly facili- 

 tate the southerly progress of the Tidal Wave from the north, 

 move the place of junction farther to the south, and gradually 

 clear the Polar Sea of ice, thus greatly ameliorating its climate. 

 Northern Europe would become warmer, and North America 

 colder. 



According to this view, the existing evidence of rising land in 

 the Arctic regions, points to a gradual increase of Arctic cold 

 in Northern Europe. 



6. The north flowing warm currents should be greater in the 

 winter than towards the close of summer, and they probably 

 assume the form of intermediate moving sheets or stripes of 

 water, similar to the horizontal cold sheets and vertical cold 



* See Keport by Capt. Sir George Nares, on the effect of an " Open 

 Season" and of Winds. — Arctic Journal, page 36. 



