425 



Expedition, s;iys in ' VerofFentlichungen des Instituts fiir Meereskunde, etc.,' Heft 5, 1903, published in 

 Berlin : "The ship lay amongst pack and loose ice, the ice being 4 to 7 metres (13 to 23 feet) thick in 

 Autumn, but increasing in thickness in parts, through snow-drifts, to over 11 metres (nearly 36 feet) in the 

 Spring. The condition of the ice around was similar in character for a distance of 2 kilometres 

 (2187 yards) on the north, 4-5 kilometres (4375-5468 yards) on the west, nearly 2 kilometres 

 (2IS7 yards) on the east, and four kilometres (4375 yards) on the south, in which direction, beyond our 

 icefields, lay an even expanse of older fixed ice ; but in the other directions it consisted of open holes, 

 until March, when they froze up. To the oast, beyond a field of young ice, at a distance of 6-8 kilometres 

 (6562-8749 yards) we frequently noticed, from September onwards, open water, in the shape of an 

 extensive ice hole, which expanded and contracted according to the direction of the wind find 

 current." 



Dr. GAZERT goes on to say that numerous bergs surrounded the ship, and that south of the depdt the 

 old solid ice, interspersed with bergs, stretched, without interruption, to the inland ice barrier 53 miles 

 distant from the ship, the barrier having a general trend cast and west. 



At the barrier, rising abruptly out of the sea, to a height of 1200 feet, was the Gaussberg, in latitude 

 66 48' S., longitude 89 30' E. 



The meteorological hut was at first situated from 44 to 55 yards to the south-south-east of the ship, but 

 had to be moved several times during the year owing to snow-drifts in Winter and thawing in Summer. 

 In January, 1903, it was moved to a position from 55 to 65 yards to the north-east of the ship. 



Through the courtesy of Professor VON DRYGALSKI, important information relating to the meteorology 

 of the region in which the "Gauss" was imprisoned can be employed in connexion with the present 

 discussion. 



Table 2, giving a Monthly Summary of observations taken at the Winter Quarters of the German 

 Aniarctic Expedition from March, 1902, to February, 1903, inclusive, has been kindly contributed by its 



distinguished leader for inclusion in this memoir. From this Summary we find that during March and ^ e an Expedition, 



Winter Quarters, 

 April, 1902, the mean barometric pressure was 29-188 inches. This is 0-181 inch lower than that which March and April, 



obtained at the "Discovery's" Winter Quarters in latitude 77 50' S., for the same period. The highest 

 pressure recorded during the two months, 29-749 inches, registered on 17th March, is 0-332 inch lower 

 than the " Discovery's " highest (luring the same time ; the lowest, 28 '434 inches, which was registered on 

 27th April, is 0-416 inch lower than the "Discovery's" lowest during the same two months. The extreme 

 range, 1-315 inches, is 0'084 inch larger than that shown by the British Expedition at McMurdo Sound, 

 during March and April, 1902. 



The mean temperature during these two months at the "Gauss" station comes out at 10 -4 F., which 

 is considerably higher than the " Discovery's " mean for the same months, as may be expected for a locality 

 nearly 14 north of it. 



The maximum temperature obtained by the German Expedition during the two months under notice 

 was 31 -1 F. and was registered on the 10th March; the minimum, -22'4F. on the 19th April, showing 

 an extreme range for the period of 53 '5 against the "Discovery's" 59 -1 for the same period. The mean 

 wind force during the two months is estimated at 3-2 of the Beaufort notation. The force of the wind 

 was estimated at G, and above, on 17 days, and on 6 of these days attained a force of 8, or above. There 

 were 7 cloudless days during the two months, when the proportion of sky clouded was less than 2 in 10; 

 and 27 cloudy days, when the proportion of cloudiness was more than 8 in 10. Precipitation, in the form 

 of rain, snow, or snow-drift, occurred on 32 days. 



As regards the direction of the wind, Dr. GAZERT has stated that it was usually easterly during the 

 whole of the time the Expedition was in the Antarctic, and that during the frequent gales experienced 

 was almost exclusively so. It was chiefly, he says, from between east and east by north from May to 

 September! subsequently still more easterly or to the southward of east, between east and south. 



In 'The Proceedings of the Fifteenth German Assembly of Geographers at Danzig in 1905 ' is published 

 a lecture delivered by Dr. W. MEINARDUS, of Berlin, upon " Wind Conditions at the ' Gauss ' Winter 

 Quarters." In this paper valuable data relating to wind frequency are presented in two tables, one of 

 which is here reproduced (Table 3, p. 410). 



3 I 



