436 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



CHAPTEK XXI. 



§ 850-880. — THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS AND THEIR CLIMATOLOGY. ' 



850. During our investigations of the ^vinds and currents, facts 

 Indications of a mild and circumstances have been revealed which indicate 



climate about the , . „ -i t t i -i t i 



south pole. the existence oi a mild climate — mild by comparison 



— within the antarctic circle. These indications plead most elo- 

 quently the course of exploration there. The facts and circum- 

 stances which suggest mildness of climate about the south pole 

 are these: a low barometer, a high degree of aerial rarefaction, 

 and strong winds from the north. 



851. The winds were the first to whisper of this strange state 

 The story of the winds, of thiugs, and to intimate to us that the antarctic 

 climates are in winter very unlike the arctic for rigour and severity. 

 In dividing the sea into wind-bands (§ 352) or longitudinal belts 5° 

 of latitude broad each, I excluded from the table at the head of the 

 next page, observations from those parts of the sea, such as the 

 North Indian Ocean, the China Sea, and others where monsoons 

 prevail. The object of this exclusion was to investigate the general 

 movements of the atmosphere, hence the propriety of excluding 

 all regions which are known to present exceptional cases to the 

 general law. The grouping was not carried beyond lat. 60^ north 

 and south, for the lack of observations on the polar side of those 

 parallels. The number of observations thus becoming available was 

 1,159,353. These were then divided simply into two classes for 

 each belt, viz., polar winds* and equatorial winds. They were 

 then reduced to terms of a year, and the average prevalence of each 

 wind in days deduced therefrom, as per Plate XY., and table on the 

 next page. 



852. This plate and table reveal a marked difference in the atmo- 

 Th&niaihKits. spherical movements north, as compared with the 



atmospherical movements south of the equator. The equatorial 



* Polar winds blow toicard the pole, equatorial toward tlie equator. 



