INTRODUCTION. 23 



there was abundant light, and that the telescope could be pointed in any direction desired, as any win- 

 dow could be removed. 



In the middle of the room was a solid wooden pillar, fixed in the same manner as those in the 

 register-observatory. The pillar is marked P. 



The Thermometer- Hut (see the sketch). 



A perfectly plain hut was erected between the observatory for absolute determinations and the 

 pillar for the cloud-measuring apparatus. 



The Pillar for the Cloud- Measuring Apparatus was a wooden pillar sunk in the earth, with stones 

 round it. 



The Mark was a wooden pole. 



There was also here, as at the other stations, a mark at a greater distance from the station. For 

 this Saeland had chosen a prominent point on the other (western) side of Dyra Fjord. 



No accidents occurred during the winter, either to instruments or buildings. It appeared that 

 Sseland in his completely closed and underground register-observatory, was no more inconvenienced 

 by the condensation of moisture on the instruments than was Russeltvedt in Spitsbergen, where a slow, 

 practical ventilation was contrived. 



7. The expedition to Dyra Fjord was carried out much later than had been planned, as Saeland 

 had to make a journey of inspection to Novaja Semlja in September, instead of Professor Birkeland, who 

 had the misfortune to be bitten by a dog at Archangel under such suspicious circumstances, that he 

 was advised by the doctors to go to Moscow to be treated at the Pasteur Institute there. Further delay 

 was caused by the very stormy weather experienced on the voyage to Iceland in the latter part of 

 October and beginning of November. 



Both in the erection of the observation-houses and in other ways, our expedition received valuable 

 assistance from Captain Berg's whaling-station. 



The general impression of the weather during the winter was that it was much more uncertain 

 than it usually is in Dyra Fjord. The sky was almost constantly overcast from the beginning of November 

 to the end of January. Snow-storms from the NW alternated unceasingly with a south wind and deluges 

 of rain; and if, between whiles, the wind dropped for a day or so, we always had to be prepared for 

 a fresh gale. In February, however, we did get a little clearer, frosty weather, and when in March 

 the drift-ice came in-shore, we had clear, cold winter weather for about a fortnight. 



At times the wind was exceedingly strong. On the night of the I3th November, for instance, a 

 large portion of the roof of the whaling-station was blown off, and a number of houses in the surrounding 

 district suffered more or less damage. The barometer readings were throughout extraordinarily low. 

 On the igth February, a reading of 693 mm. was noted on the aneroid barometer of the expedition. 

 The day before, according to Icelandic papers, a correspondingly low reading had been noted in 

 Vestmaneyarne. 



It is obvious that with such weather there were comparatively few opportunities of observing aurora. 

 We kept regular watch in the evening; but as a rule only very small patches of sky were visible, and 

 what auroras were observed, were therefore usually observed piecemeal. 



Opportunities of observing the typical development of auroral arcs at right angles to the magnetic 

 meridian, with a slow ascent from the northern horizon up towards the zenith, were rare. This may to 

 some extent be due to the above-mentioned conditions; but on the other hand, it was far more usual 

 here than, for instance, at Haldde in Alien, to see aurora in the south, and also it was our impression 

 that among the various forms of aurora, the corona is far more general in Iceland than at Haldde. 



