UNIVERSITAS ANTARCTICA! 
LECTURE ON THE Ross IcE BARRIER BY CAPTAIN SCOTT 
June 7, 1911, 8 P.M. (From notes by Griffith Taylor) 
SECTION  I[.—Flotation. 
és II.—Limits. 
ie II].—Crevasses. 
53 IV.—Temperature and Pressure. 
a V.—Movement of the Ice Sheet. 
+4 VI.—Method of Growth. 
us VII.—Mainland Glaciers. 
»  WIII.—Inland Ice Sheet. 
I. Flotation —Let us first of all consider the question of the 
flotation of the Barrier. There can be, I think, no doubt that 
it is afloat. On pages 417-420 in the ‘ Narrative of the Dis- 
covery’ will be found an account of the Ross Barrier, in which 
we read that its face is 360 miles long, and that the sea exceeds 
1800 feet in depth along the greater part of this distance. 
The ice wall is 150 feet high here in places, and we must 
allow for a much greater depth which is submerged below the 
level of the sea. 
The ratio of submerged to visible ice appears to vary, and 
should be investigated on bergs in our vicinity. Even if it is 7 
to 1, then the Barrier is afloat at its edge, and the same is of 
course the case if the ratio be taken as 4 to 1. Professor David 
quotes an example of 1 to 1, but that is certainly exceptional. 
It seems certain that there is a layer of water under the great 
Ice Barrier, which has five times the extent of the North Sea. 
II. Limits —We have several observations of the ice front, 
notably Ross in 1840, and the Discovery in 1902. ‘The latter 
showed a recession in general of from 15 to 20 miles, with a max- 
imum of 45 miles. In 1911, however, Pennell reported that the 
conditions appeared to have changed little during the last ten 
years. 
