6 POLAR PROBLEMS 



Amund Ringnes Islands) and the small islands between them and 

 west of them discovered by Vilhjalmur Stefansson in 1916 and 191 7 

 (Meighen Island, Borden Island, Brock Island) should happen to 

 form the northern boundary of this extensive archipelago. The con- 

 tinental shelf may in some places have a considerable extension 

 beyond the known region, and there may be still unknown islands 

 situated on it. 



On the whole the Canadian Arctic Archipelago exhibits geo- 

 morphological features which are quite unique and exceptional on 

 the earth's surface. This extensive area is dissected and traversed 

 in various directions by fiords and sounds which have dimensions 

 and lengths greater than fiords in any other part of the earth. They 

 may have a certain resemblance to the Baltic, the White Sea, and 

 the great submarine valleys of Barents Sea. We know, however, 

 very little about the depths and submarine configuration of these 

 fiords and sounds, and a systematic survey of them in connection 

 with an exploration of the geological structure of their coasts would 

 be most interesting. How far they may traverse the continental 

 shelf as submarine fiords beyond tjbe islands we know, is impossible 

 to say at present. At Stefansson's farthest in 1917, in about 80° 

 35' N. lat., about 140 kilometers north-northwest of Ellef Ringnes 

 Island (Cape Isachsen) he sounded 502 meters,^ but whether this 

 was in a submarine fiord or near the edge of the continental shelf 

 we cannot tell. 



North of Alaska, off the coast eastwards from Point Barrow, 

 the edge of the continental shelf approaches near to the land. During 

 the drift with the ice of Stefansson's ship the Karluk in 1913, and 

 during the journey across the drift ice of Stefansson in 1914 and of 

 his companion the Norwegian Storkerson in 191 8 in the sea north 

 of Alaska and west of Banks Island, depths of more than 1000 and 

 2000 meters were found at distances less than 100 kilometers north 

 of Alaska and 170 kilometers west of Banks Island. There seems to 

 be an extensive deep sea off these coasts. Storkerson sounded 2961 

 meters without bottom about 400 kilometers north of the Alaskan 

 coast.^ 



3 This is according to his map in: The Friendly Arctic, New York, 1921, opposite p. 594. I 

 have found no mention of this sounding in his writings. [From Stefansson's unpublished diary, of 

 which a photostat copy is deposited in the library of the American Geographical Society, it appears 

 that two more soundings were made, viz. 498 and 507 meters, respectively about i and s miles north of 

 the 502-meter sounding (whose latitude is there given as 80° 22'). At the 498-meter sounding no de- 

 flection of the wire by currents was noted, whereas there was a good deal of deflection in the case of 

 the 507-meter sounding. Irrespective of these details a general depth of about 500 meters seems in- 

 dicated in this region. — Edit. Note.] 



* Storkerson reported a bottom sounding of 4684 meters 200 kilometers nearer shore, in 72° N. 

 and 147° W. (2561 fathoms on map accompanying Stefansson's "The Friendly Arctic"; text reference 

 on p. 701). In the copy of Storkerson's diary deposited with the American Geographical Society it 

 is reported that the wire, on being hauled in after the 13-pound lead attached to it had been let 

 out 2808 fathoms, lacked 260 fathoms and the lead. As 11 fathoms of the remaining end were 

 kinked, it was assumed that bottom had been reached at 2537 fathoms. — Edit. Note. 



