83. What are ice islands? 



Ice islands are thick masses of ice which have broken from the ice 

 shelves of Greenland, Ellesmere Island, or other northern islands. They 

 have been used as drifting stations for oceanographic and meteorological 

 studies. Ice floes of frozen sea water have also been used as scientific 

 stations, but they usually last only a year or two. 



The Russians have been manning ice stations in the Arctic since the 

 mid-1 930's; by 1958 they had airlifted 565 temporary scientific sta- 

 tions onto Arctic Ocean pack ice. 



The U. S. station Fletcher's Ice Island (T-3) has been used as a re- 

 search station since 1952. It drifts clockwise around the Arctic Ocean. 



Another ice island, ARLIS II, was manned from May 1961 to 

 May 1965. 



Cromie, William J. 



Exploring the Secrets of the Sea, Prentice-Hall, 1962. 



Thomas, Lowell, Jr. 



"Scientists Ride Ice Islands on Arctic Odysseys," National Geo- 

 graphic, Vol. 128, No. 5, Nov. 1965. 



Weeks, Tim, and Romona Maher 



/ce Island, The John Day Company, 1965. 



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