THE CURRENT METER 337 



Without entering upon any complex theory this phenomenon 

 can be explained by the fact that with a high southerly declination 

 the tide that would be normally caused by the inferior wave is 

 so small as to be inappreciable to ordinary observation. With 

 the moon at maximum northerly declination it would, of course, 

 be the superior wave that would not appear. With the moon 

 on the equator diurnal inequality disappears, and the two tides 

 are experienced. 



During the short summer before the work was interrupted 

 by sledging and before the sea ice had broken up, the air tem- 

 perature was warm enough to permit observations on the cur- 

 rents being taken with an Ekmann current meter. Series of meas- 

 urements were obtained with this instrument which should prove 

 of great interest. 



Exceptionally severe weather characterised the second win- 

 ter, and the fact that the sea ice was being constantly blown out 

 made marine work impossible for extended periods. 



Since a very complete tide record had been obtained during 

 the first year, it was decided to convert the instrument used for 

 this purpose, of which only one was available, into a seiche meter. 

 One record was obtained and then the instrument was lost, owing 

 to sea ice which past experience had led us to believe was safe, 

 blowing out and carrying the apparatus to sea. Otherwise the 

 programme was similar to the previous year. 



TOL. II 23 



