THE ARCTIC PACK 1 33 



of the Polar Basin supplied by the Gulf Stream, the currents coming 

 from Bering Strait, and the masses of fresh water carried into it by 

 the Siberian and American rivers. 



As to the region of the Arctic Ocean washing the coasts of the 

 American Arctic Archipelago and Alaska (Beaufort Sea), it seems to be 

 outside of the influence of definite winds and currents, being situated 

 in a so-called "wind divide" going from Bering Strait to the northern 

 coast of Greenland. ^^ 



The predominant winds on the northern shores of the Parry Ar- 

 chipelago are mostly northerly. Lieutenant P. H. Ray's observations 

 at Point Barrow^" also show the predominance of the northerly winds. 

 Probably the Arctic Pack is densely compressed in this region and 

 consequently affords a most favorable condition for the formation of 

 powerful heaped-up ice masses. 



Considering in their combination all movements of the Arctic Pack 

 in the different regions it seems probable that a certain rotary motion 

 exists around a center situated somewhere between latitudes 83° 

 and 85° N. and longitudes 170° and 180° W. As I have already men- 

 tioned, there is no ground for supposing that this circular motion has a 

 definite speed and direction, but it should rather possibly be considered 

 a motion of ice masses that did not get into the East Greenland Cur- 

 rent and were not carried away to the southern marginal seas of the 

 Arctic Ocean and that after a certain period complete the circuit 

 and appear again approximately on the same spot. Consequently 

 the masses of ice are likely to stay in the Arctic Basin for an indefinite 

 time undergoing the changes caused by the character of this basin. 

 There is also no reason to suppose that this motion is general for the 

 whole mass of the Arctic Pack. It probably is different in different 

 regions at the same moment, producing local compacting and loosening 

 of the ice as the case may be, but the resultant of all the forces govern- 

 ing these motions will have a single more or less definite direction. 

 The consideration of the motion of the Arctic Pack also shows that 

 in places where there are obstacles in its way the ice is always com- 

 pressed and the sea inaccessible to navigation. Such places are, for 

 example, the eastern coast of Franz Josef Land and the northeastern 

 coast of Greenland. 



This circumstance is particularly noticeable in comparing the 

 conditions of navigation of the vessel met by the Tegetthoff of the 



11 Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H. M. S. Challenger During the Years 1873-76 

 under the command of Captain George S. Nares R. N., F. R. S., and the late Captain Frank Tourle 

 Thomson, R. N., prepared under the superintendence of the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson and now of 

 John Murray: Physics and Chemistry, Vol. 2, 1889, polar maps of atmospheric circulation [accom- 

 panying Alexander Buchan's Report on Atmospheric Circulation, 269 pp., 52 maps]; especially impor- 

 tant Map 52: Isobaric lines of the North Polar Regions for the Year. 



[The first formulation of the concept of an Arctic wind divide was made by Supan on the basis of 

 Buchan's maps; see Alexander Supan: Die arktische Windscheide und die modernen Polarprojekte, 

 Pelermanns Mitt., Vol. 37, 1891, pp. 191-195, with map, PI. 14. — Edit. Note.] 



12 At the international circumpolar station established by the United States. — Transl. Note. 



