466 ANNUAL, EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



They are foggy and stormy, causing blizzards. No matter what the 

 season, they canse a rise of temj)erature often exceeding 20°. Thej^ 

 become more frequent in September, thawing time, and the season 

 for the return and nesting of migratory birds. In certain hititudes 

 these winds are constant ahnost all the summer. Thej^ make the ap- 

 proach to the pack ice everj^where very dangerous, and often imperil 

 journej^s over the ice bank and the coast glaciers. 



As regards temperature, the great amount of glacial phenomena 

 in the Antarctic makes it a region where there is really no summer. 

 Observations taken at places generally uncovered alongshore and in 

 the neighborhood of the Polar Circle have shown during the milder 

 months figures much lower than might be expected, and comparable 

 with those made by Nansen during the drift of the Fram with the 

 arctic ice, beyond latitude 80° N. The higher mean recorded, from 

 November to March, is the one at Port Charcot (lat. 65.04° S.), and 

 this was less than 0° ; that is, —0.39°.'^ At this station alone January 

 gave a mean above the freezing point, namely, +0.48°. For the 

 Belgica^ that drifted westward of Alexander I Land as far as lati- 

 tude 70.71° S. ; for the Gavss^ that wintered below the Polar Circle; 

 and for the Southern Gross ^ the observations of which wxre taken at 

 Caj)e Adare in latitude 71.18° S., the mean summer temperature 

 ranged from —1.5° to —1.8° ; therefore all were lower than the mean 

 of —1.2° observed by the Fram^ up to latitude 82° N. The December 

 mean dropped to — 2.2° for the Belgica. For the entire summer the 

 observers of the Discovery recorded as low as — 5.9°. Finally the 

 extreme maximum ever}'^ where has scarcely gone above 0° ; the higher 

 records are those of -\r^° -, taken by the Francais (April 23), and that 

 of -|-3.5°, taken by the Gauss (January 2). The average of the 

 maxima of 9.4° at Cape Adare (for February) corresponds to one 

 month when the foehn blows were frequent. 



The mean of the colder months from May to September was ex- 

 ceptionally low. For July the highest average for West Antarctide 

 was that of the Belgica, — 16.8°; the lowest average was —19.2° at 

 Port Charcot and —20° at Snow Hill. Tlie Gauss noted —19.1° 

 for the entire winter and —21.8° in August. July results are still 

 lower for the Southern Cross ( — 24.3°), and for the Discovery 

 ( — 25.6°). The absolute minima of —35° and below have been 

 frequent everywhere. No doubt it is to this persistent very low 

 temperature and to the polar darkness and the almost constant fog 

 that we must impute the havoc caused by polar ansemia in all 

 expeditions. 



Besides, the temperature everywhere is much more trying because 

 of the many sudden changes in a single month, no matter where the 



<* The mean for July is +6° at Godthaab on the west coast of Greenland 

 (64° N.). 



