82 THE CLIMATE OF AUSTRALASIA 



26 3C/ S.) In other years the ice is kept far 

 to the south. 



These Antarctic icebergs migrate northward 

 at intervals.^ One well known ice irruption 

 occurred between November 1854, and March 

 1855, and another from 1892-95. Mr. 

 Baracchi has recently stated (Age, 9th Feb. 

 1904) that' " there is no year on record since 

 1855 in which we have had so much rain 

 during the first two months as we have already 

 had up to date." The recurrence of the 1855 

 weather with similar and exceptional ice con- 

 ditions south of Australia is significant. Icebergs 

 this year have travelled unusually far to the 

 north and to the east. The northward voyage 

 of these icebergs must reduce the temperature 

 of the sea through which they flow, and chill the 

 winds which pass them. But they are them- 

 selves perhaps more important than their effects. 

 They are symptomatic of less conspicuous, but 

 more powerful agencies. The long life of these 

 icebergs may indicate the absence of the warmer 

 waters in which, under ordinary conditions, they 

 would soon melt ; and probably the extremely 

 cold, changeable weather of the past two 

 months, (November and December 1903), is 

 a consequence of the proximity of this ice. 

 And Mr. F. W. Hales tells me that it is a 

 matter of experience in Southern New Zealand, 

 that years when abundant Antarctic icebergs 



*Suggestions have been made that the ice came northward owing to 

 the great quantities set free from the Antarctic area by the effect of 

 earthquakes or earthquake waves. 



