POLAR PROBLEMS 



Fig. 

 Scale, 



-Harris' cotidal map of the Arctic seas, igri, illustrating his theory of a polar land mass. 

 ?2, 000, 000. (Greatly reduced from work cited in footnote 7.) 



Tidal Observations of the "Maud" Expedition: 

 Fjeldstad's Investigations 



During the years 1918-1921 Amundsen's .party aboard the Maud 

 made tide observations at three points on the northern coast of 

 Siberia. In a preHminary report on the results from these observa- 

 tions Fjeldstad called attention to the fact that the new observations 

 could be correlated with the previous observations and the whole 

 united into a coherent scheme by accepting Nansen's hypothesis 

 of a deep polar basin. On this basis he constructed a cotidal chart 

 (here reproduced as Fig. 2) showing the tide wave progressing from 

 Greenland Sea to Alaska directly across the pole.^^ 



In dealing with the progression of a tide wave across a body of 

 water it has been taken for granted that this progression takes place 

 in accordance with the formula v = V g A, in which v is the velocity 

 of the wave or rate of progression, g the acceleration of gravity, 

 and h the depth of water. This is valid for a tide wave across the 

 deep basin of the open ocean and has been taken as valid also for 

 the progress of the tide over the continental shelf. Fjeldstad drew 



" J. E. Fjeldstad: Litt om tidevandet i Nordishavet, Naturen, Vol. 47, Bergen, 1923, pp. 161-175. 



