BIRKELAND. THE NORWEGIAN AURORA POLARIS EXPEDITION, 1902 1903. 



Fig. 6. The Observatory on Sukkertop. 



had kites, with self-registering instruments for investigations high up in the atmosphere; but the wind was 

 almost always very strong up on the mountain, and we very soon lost them. The members of the 



expedition were myself, SEM 

 S^ELAND, amanuensis at the Uni- 

 versity Physical Institute, E. 

 BOYE, a student, K. KNUDSEN, 

 telegraphic engineer, and a cook. 

 The results of the expedi- 

 tion's magnetic investigations 

 and of the auroral observations 

 have been already published 

 in the above-mentioned work, 

 whereas the meteorological ob- 

 servations have unfortunately 

 not yet been worked up. 



Many of our experiences 

 during our stay upon these 

 mountain-tops were such as 

 others have probably not passed 

 through; for as far as is known 

 no one has ever before passed 

 a winter upon the highest mountain-summits in Finmark. 



It is my intention, however, not to relate here much more about our life and our difficulties in the 

 second and third expeditions than may serve to show the development in these undertakings, but to tell 

 enough to give those who may make future expeditions in the same regions, the benefit of our experience 

 to build upon. 



The natural force with which we 

 especially had to battle with up in 

 Haldde was the wind; for it sometimes 

 blew fearfully. We were unable to mea- 

 sure the highest velocities, but once we 

 measured one of 46 metres per second. 

 For this we used two good little hand 

 anemometers of Richard Freres; but 

 they were certainly not intended for 

 such great wind-velocities, and what the 

 error may have been in these extreme 

 measurements, I cannot say. 



We often had much greater hurri- 

 canes, however, than the one mentioned 

 which we measured. The wind some- 

 times roared so against the houses, that 

 you would have thought you were sitting 



at the foot of a waterfall; and the floors trembled and everything shook. We soon got to be able to gauge 

 relatively the storm outside by the noise within. Our measuring apparatus, as I have said, did not allow 

 of our determining the greatest wind-velocities, and often we could not get out of the house ourselves for 



Fig. 7. The observatory on Talviktop. 



