ARCTIC TIDES 23 



tide wave on continental shelves does not progress in accordance 

 with the simple formula valid for deep oceanic basins, and strangely 

 enough the dynamics of the case appear to be against the formation 

 of well-developed diurnal tides in the higher latitudes. ^^ 



Applying the results of his theoretical discussion to the data de- 

 rived from the observations along the Arctic shores, Sverdrup finds 

 that, wholly on the basis of the nature of wave movement on conti- 

 nental shelves, the flood current should come from the west at Point 

 Barrow; that the range of the tide should vary transversely to the 

 direction of progress of the tide wave, increasing from left to right; 

 and that the tidal currents should be rotary in character over the whole 

 region, the direction of rotation being clockwise. And on the basis 

 of the observations he constructed a cotidal map (here reproduced 

 as Fig. 3) showing the progress of the tide between Cape Chelyuskin 

 and Point Barrow, which differs radically from Harris' map. 



Sverdrup makes no attempt to draw a cotidal map for the whole 

 of the Arctic Sea. However his cotidal map for the North Siberian 

 Shelf pictures the tide wave as reaching the coast of Alaska from the 

 north, and he is led "to conclude that the tidal phenomena do not 

 indicate the existence of land within the unexplored area."^^ This 

 conclusion has since received partial confirmation as a result of 

 Amundsen's transpolar flight. This flight was directly across the 

 unexplored area, and while the visibility appears to have been un- 

 favorable the greater part of the time Amundsen is quoted as stating 

 categorically that "there was no land."" 



Tidal Observations of the Russian 

 Polar Expedition 



In this connection the results of Russian tidal observations which 

 have just come to light are of interest. In the winter of 1900-1901 

 a party of the Russian Polar Expedition under Baron von Toll made 

 tidal observations at Zarya Harbor on the northern shore of Taimyr 

 Peninsula, covering the period December 6, 1900, to May 22, 1901. 

 The results develop the local characteristics of the tide and agree in 

 the main with the other observations in the general vicinity. ^^ Another 

 party under Lieutenant F. A. Matisen secured observations in the Ner- 

 palakh lagoon on Kotelnyi Island, for the period November 14, 



15 Sverdrup, op. cit., p. 64. 



IS ihid., p. 14. 



^'' Geogr. Rev., Vol. 16, 1926, p. 664. 



18 A. M. Bukhtyeev: Prilivy u sibirskago poberezhya Syevernago Ledovitago Okeana po nablyu- 

 deniyam Russkoi Polyarnoi Ekspeditsii v 1900-1903 gg., I: Prilivy na reidye " Zarya " u syevernago 

 berega Zapadnago Taimyra (The tides on the Siberian coast of the Arctic Sea from the observations 

 of the RussianPolar Expedition, 1900-1903, I: The tidesof Zarya roadstead on the northern coast of 

 Taimyr Peninsula), Resultats Scientifiques de I'Expedition Polaire Russe en 1900-1903 sous la direc- 

 tion du Baron E. Toll, Section B: Geographic physique et mathematique, Livraison 4, Zapiski Imp. 

 Akad. Nauk, Ser. 8, Phys.-Math. Class, Vol. 26, No. 4, St. Petersburg, 1912. 



