INTRODUCTION. 



several days. One strong anemograph we had put up was blown to pieces in the course of a few days, and 

 we found pieces of it from 50 to 100 metres from the place where it had been put up. The reason of 

 this was probably that at the same time as the wind, the air was at times so saturated or supersaturated 

 with moisture, that ice formed upon everything. In nine or ten hours, ice-formations the length of one's 

 finger would be formed, always pointing towards the wind. Suspended telephone wires would become 

 as thick as a man's arm with ice. It was probably a heavy coating of ice such as this that destroyed 

 our very strongly built anemometer in a hurricane. In high winds it was impossible to go out, and 

 more than once, on Sukkertop, it took three men with a great effort to close our little door. 



After storms such as 

 this, there were of course 

 many changes to be seen. 

 We have seen a layer of 

 snow a metre thick, and so 

 hard that you could jump 

 on it without sinking in, 

 practically disappear from 

 the summit in the course 

 of nine or ten hours. It 

 may be imagined then what 

 a whirling and drifting there 

 was in a wind, when the 

 snow was comparatively 

 fresh, and not pressed into 

 such a compact mass. 



For the sake of com- 

 parison it may be mentioned 

 that the greatest wind-velo- 

 city observed by the Nansen 



Fig. 8. Going to measure the wind-velocity. 



Expedition in three years 

 was only 18 metres. This 

 is an interesting circum- 

 stance, for it shows that 

 on the ice-fields of the 

 polar regions in a more 

 restricted sense a compara- 

 tive stillness prevails in the 

 atmosphere. 



As a rule the wind on 

 the Haldde mountains was 

 not especially cold, but it 

 could be sometimes. On the 

 2oth February, 1900, when 

 the temperature was 33'5 

 C., the wind-velocity was 

 about 20 metres. The 

 greatest wind-velocities ob- 

 served upon the Haldde 

 mountains are given below. 



Temperatures of 20 accompanied by winds with a velocity of from 20 to 30 metres were pretty 

 frequent both in January and February, 1900. 



No one who has not tried it can imagine what it is to be out in such weather. Knudsen, for 

 instance, once had one hand frost-bitten in the few minutes he was out to take a reading, although he 

 had on thick woollen gloves. He had neglected the precaution of having fur gloves over them. Frost-bite 

 such as this, however, is not serious when you can go at once into a warm house, and get ice-water 

 for your hands. 



