SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 65 



small insignificant bergs observed near Bennett Island by the Rus- 

 sians in the summei' of 1912. The New Siberian Islands, while not 

 ice coA'ered. are the site of several cliffs of fossil ice which is, of 

 course. Avithout movement. The DeLong Islands and Wrangel 

 Island. Avhose glaciers produce no bergs, completes the list of land- 

 ice areas in Eurasian polar regions. 



With the exception of the one small glacier on Bennett Island, 

 not a single iceberg is produced along the Eurasian coast east of 

 Cape Chelyuskin.*' From our slight knowledge of the currents, the 

 Franz Josef Land bergs should be carried westerly toward Spits- 

 bergen, and the Spitsbergen bergs should, in turn, contribute to the 

 total quantity of ice feeding into the east Greenland current. On 

 the otiier hand the comparatively weak character of the circulation, 

 especially in the eastern part of this area, argues that neither Franz 

 Josef Land or Spitsbergen bergs are carried far. Many of these 

 bergs, therefore, remain in the fjords and strand along the coasts. 

 Compared to the great volume of glacial ice discharged from east 

 Greenland, the possible contributions from Spitsbergen are minute. 



The total area of tidewater glaciation of the northeastern sector of 

 the North Atlantic is approximately 4 per cent of that of Greenland. 

 On the basis of a productivity of 15,000 bergs for Greenland the 

 northeastern sector contributes a total of 600 bergs annually. 



Glaciation in Ellesmeke Land 



One of the previously mentioned factors which determines the 

 extent of glaciation ; the altitude ; is clearly revealed on the American 

 side of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait. Ellesmere Land, deeply in- 

 trenched in the polar regions, presents only its east and south coasts 

 for cursory view. From the decks of their ships, often kept away by 

 menacing floes and fields, Ross, Kane, Hall, and others have recorded 

 the general coastal picture. Due to its natural inaccessibility, the 

 interior of Ellesmere Land has been seen by few explorers, among 

 whom are Greely, 1881-1884; Peary, 1898-1902 ; Sv^rdrup, 1898-1902; 

 MacMillan. 1917; and Byrd and MacMillan by airplane in 1925, 

 The main glaciation is grouped about two reservoirs, one in the 

 central and the other in the southeastern quarter of Ellesmere Land. 

 According to Greely (1886, p. 273), Grant Land, the northern fourth 

 of the island, is ice free, except for a few small glaciers in the United 

 States Range, which are not tidewater. Grinnell Land, the subdivi- 

 sion next south, embraces a shield of ice called " Mer de Glace 

 Agassiz." traced from near Archer Fjord across to Greely Fjord 

 and thence southeastwards where the ice discharges around the shores 

 of Princess Marie Bay. The vicinity of Bach Peninsula, and a belt 

 to the Avestward. is unglaciated. The discharging points for the 

 northern reservoir, in order north to south, are Eugenie, Parish. Sven 

 Hedin. and Benedict Glaciers. 



The southeastern quarter of the Ellesmere Land, a plateau of some 

 thousand or more feet in elevation, is known to be glaciated from 

 the exj^lorations and reports of Sverdrup (1904). Beginning at the 



^•'' Transehe ( 1925, p. 396) has discussed the question whether a large pi'oportion of the 

 iceberfTs sijriited around Nicholas II Land in 1913 and ]914 did not consist of bergs that 

 had Ix'cn carried th-re from Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land by an extension of the 

 North Cape current. The evidence being so meager causes the discussion, although stimu- 

 lating, to be more or less hypothetical. 



