Ice in the Sea 

 Table 102. Severity of ice years around Iceland for a A\-year cycle 



269 



§ Main maximum; t Secondary maximum; % Minimum 



WiESE (1922) found a very high correlation coefficient (r = —0-83 ±0-05) for the 

 period 1887-1930 between the autumn temperature in north-west Siberia and the ice 

 volume 4| years later in the East Greenland Current ; lower temperatures are followed 

 by more ice and vice versa. This relationship is reasonable since A\ years is about the 

 time required for ice to travel from the Siberian coast to the Greenland Sea. By 

 comparison of variations in the meteorological elements and secular changes in ice 

 drift Meinardus was able to show a close relationship with the intensity of the atmos- 

 pheric circulation. The variations in occurrence of arctic ice in the north-west Atlantic 

 have been investigated in a series of papers by Mecking (1907, 1939). A series of 

 observations covering more than 100 years in the Davis Strait have been presented in 

 the form of "ice character numbers" by Speerschneider (1931) who reduced them on 

 a ten step scale (Table 103 and Fig. 123 series b). 



Table 103. Drift ice in Davis Strait from 1820 to 1930 {ice- 

 character numbers reduced on a scale from 1 to 10) 



Comparison with the values for Iceland shows little similarity. Severe ice years in 

 one area appear rather to correspond to ice-poor years in the others and vice versa, a 

 relationship which had previously been pointed out by Schott (1904) correlating the 



