GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



a tract exists there where wind is rare ; the snow is very loose. But such an 

 enormous surface of snow will, of course, lower the temperature of the air. It 

 thus becomes heavier ; it sinks and presses from the centre across the ice in 

 all directions. Consequently, at the edge of the inland-ice, there is nearly 

 always a wind from Central Greenland. 



The edge of the inland-ice varies very much. If the ice covers an uneven 

 Alpine landscape one will find in the border zone hills and valleys, with 

 streams and lakes on the surface of the ice. Occasionally a mountain-ridge 

 or a valley may be followed for many kilometres into the inland-ice. In such 

 places, where the underlying ground is uneven, or where the ice is in strong 

 motion, the ill-famed crevasses arise ; these, then, are only met with near the 

 edge of the inland-ice. 



If the land in front of and beneath the ice is flat, the surface will, as a rule, 

 be even and free of crevasses. This is the case in the most northerly parts of 

 Greenland. 



It has already been mentioned that the inland-ice consists of glaciers which 

 have merged into each other ; nearly all of them shoot out towards the sea, 

 where they form icebergs when greater or bigger blocks are thrown off and 

 float away. The lower layers of such a glacier are often mixed with soil and 

 stones, which it has ploughed up into itself on its way across the underlying 

 ground. It is well known that all the soil of Denmark has been carried down 

 from Scandinavia by the inland-ice — a pretty example of the quantities which 

 the inland-ice is able to carry with it. 



When a glacier reaches the sea, greater or larger icebergs will, as already 

 mentioned, be set free and float away. In several places of Southern Green- 

 land this may take place unhampered, as the sea in front of the glacier is never 

 covered by ice. But in Northern Greenland the fjords and parts of the ocean 

 are covered every winter, and this prevents the icebergs from floating away 

 from the glacier. Certain particularly strong and large glaciers, as, for 

 instance, the ice stream of Jakobshavn, are, however, all through the winter 

 capable of bursting the ice cover ; but these are exceptions, and as a rule there 

 are towards the spring in North Greenland a closely packed mass of ice blocks 

 collected in front of the glacier ; these float away when the ocean-ice in front 

 of them melts. The further north one goes the longer the ocean-ice remains 

 lying, and the broader is, consequently, the belt of icebergs in front of the 

 glacier. 



In the fjord north of Thule the ocean-ice lies from October to July, and 

 the great Moltke Glacier by the head of Wolstenholme Fjord has, in the spring, 

 a belt of closely packed ice in front of it, which may be a couple of kilometres 

 broad. When the ocean-ice drifts away in the beginning of July, the glacier- 

 ice is so firmly packed together that it remains lying, and not until the early 

 part of August does the ice split with a mighty roar, and the whole fjord is 

 covered with pieces of ice. 



On the north coast of Greenland the ocean-ice does not drift out from the 

 fjords ; thus the icebergs are also unable to float away, wherefore, as a rule, 

 one meets with them here. The belt of icebergs in front of the glacier 

 remains lying over the summer ; it becomes constantly more firmly pressed 

 together ; at the top it melts to the same degree as does the glacier mass 

 behind it, and finally it is no longer a collection of loose pieces of ice, but one 

 huge block, which increasingly broadens and is connected with the glacier 

 behind ; in other words, it has become the foremost floating part of the glacier, 

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