18 



POLAR REGIONS. 



Polar September and October very tempestuous. In the in- 

 Regions. terior of the ice, when the ice forms a close compact 

 body, the winds are less violent than at the edge of the 

 ice ; in such situations, indeed, storms are very uncom- 

 mon. And in winter, vessels frozen up have generally 

 experienced fine calm weather for days and weeks toge- 

 ther. Thus Crantz remarks, that in Disco it is often 

 for two or three months constantly calm, and the air 



mently, that the houses quiver and crack, the tents and 

 lighter boats fly up into the air, and the sea- water scat- 

 ters about on the land like snow-dust." || 



There is very little clear weather in the Arctic seas 

 during spring, summer and autumn ; for while the at- 

 mosphere over the land is free from clouds and visible 

 vapours, at sea it is generally obscured by frost-rime in 

 the spring, and by clouds or fog in the summer. The 



Polar 

 Regions. 



clear. And Dr. Guthrie, in his Dissertation on the Cli~ frost-rime is a vapour which arises from the sea in se- 



mate of Russia, remarks, that nature seems " to have 

 studied a perfect equality in the distribution of her 

 favours, as it is only the parts of the earth which most 

 enjoy the kindly influences of the sun, that suffer by 

 the effects of its superior heat, so that if the atmosphere 

 of the north is not so genial as that of the south, at 

 least it remains perfectly quiet and serene, without 

 threatening destruction to man, and the product of his 

 industry, as in what are commonly called happier cli- 

 mates.'' 



Captain Parry, during his wintering at Melville 

 Island, experienced a similar stillness in the atmosphere 

 during the depth of winter, and severe colds, for it was 

 not till the advance of spring that strong winds were 

 experienced ; and it was observed, that whenever the 

 wind arose the temperature became more mild, from 

 whatever quarter the wind blew. This was a strong 

 proof that his place of wintering was near the coldest 

 portion of the globe, otherwise a north wind, it might 

 have been expected, would have been productive of a 

 fall of temperature. 



In icy regions, both within and without the arctic 

 circle, the most prevalent direction of the wind is from 

 the ice towards the open sea. In Hudson's Bay west- 

 erly winds blow for three-fourths of the year ; * at 

 Kamtschatka the prevailing winds are also from the 

 westward ; t in Greenland northerly winds occur du- 

 ring seven months in the winter J ; and in a similar 

 proportion nearly, in Spitzbergen, Jan Mayen, and 

 Nova Zembla, as far as the observations of adventurers 

 who have occasionally wintered in these desolate coun- 

 tries, can enable us to draw general conclusions. 



The prevalent winds in the Greenland sea, betwixt 

 Spitzbergen and Greenland, are from the eastward or 

 N.E. in March and April ; from the northward in May 

 and June ; from the south and south-west in July and 

 August; and from the south-eastward in September. 

 The number of storms, in this quarter, during the 

 month of April, is very great. On an average of 

 from 6 to 12 years, 11 stormy days out of the 30 oc- 

 curred in April, 6 T '^ in May, 3 T ^ in June, and 3 T ^ 

 in July. 



. The hardest gales, near Spitzbergen, in the spring 

 of the year, are generally those from the north-east, 

 east, and south-east. Those of March and April fre- 

 quently blow without intermission for two or three 

 successive days, and rarely subside until the wind veers 

 round to the north or north-west. The south-westerly 

 and southerly storms of the autumn blow with great 

 fierceness in many parts of the Arctic regions ; and the 

 eastern coast of Greenland is subject at this season 

 to tremendous gales from these and also from the 

 northern quarters. In west Greenland, it is observed 

 by Crantz, " when it once begins to be stormy, which 

 happens mostly in autumn, the wind rages so vehe- 



* Pennant's Arctic Zoology, Supplement^ p. 41. 

 J Middieton's Vindication, p. 201. 

 y History <rf Greenland, i. p. .47. 



vere frosts. It is occasioned by the warmth of the wa- 

 ter comparatively with the temperature of the air. 

 This difference of temperature produces a considerable 

 evaporation, which the coldness of the air condenses in 

 minute frozen particles as rapidly as it is produced. In 

 calm weather the frost-rime is scarcely perceptible ; but 

 in high winds and heavy seas, when the different strata 

 of air near the surface are intimately blended by the 

 agitation of the waves, it rises to the height of 20 or 

 30 yards, and becomes as obscure and bewildering to 

 the navigator as the densest fog. It affords him this 

 advantage, however, that by being superficial he can 

 get above it by ascending his ship's mast, from the 

 summit of which he gains a much more clear and ex- 

 tended prospect. 



In the interior of compact ice there is always a ten- 

 dency to clear weather ; but so soon as the ice sepa* 

 rates, and the temperature rises to the freezing point, 

 fogs become exceedingly frequent, and of extraordinary 

 density. They sometimes prevail for days and weeks 

 together without a moment's attenuation. There are 

 intervals, however, of a perfectly cloudless sky, which 

 sometimes extend to two or three successive days. And 

 in all the regions far north, during the absence of the 

 sun, clear frosty weather is almost universal. This was 

 strikingly the case in the experience of Captain Parry 

 at Melville Island, the sky being generally cloudless in 

 the winter and spring. And it was observed, that 

 when the clouds became gradually more dense and fre- 

 quent the temperature began to rise. 



Little snow falls in winter, and not much aqueous 

 deposit in summer ; but in spring and autumn there 

 are prodigious falls of snow, particularly in gales of 

 wind. Captain Parry experienced heavy snow-drifts in 

 the month of October, " against which no human being 

 could have remained alive after an hour's exposure." 

 In Spitzbergen, which is frequented by Russian hun- 

 ters from the borders of the White Sea, similar snow- 

 drifts occur. If the hunters happen to be abroad when 

 they occur, their lives are always in peril. Their usual 

 practice, however, is to wrap themselves up in their 

 large cloaks, and lying flat down on their faces, to await 

 in this posture, for an interval of the storm in which 

 they may recover their hut or tent. In this way they 

 have a chance of escaping ; but to contend against the 

 severe and bewildering action of a snow-storm, is only 

 prematurely to exhaust their strength and hasten their 

 destruction. The snow which occurs during severe 

 frosts is remarkable for the beauty of its crystals. The 

 principal configurations are the stelliform and hexagon- 

 al, though almost every shape of which the generating 

 angles of 60 and 120 are susceptible, may, in the 

 course of a few years' observation, be discovered. Cap- 

 tain Scoresby has figured nearly a hundred varieties of 

 snow-crystals observed by himself, some of them ex- 



} Idem, Arctic Zoology, cxiii. 



Scoresby's Arctic Regions, i. 411. 



