THE OCEANOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS OF THE 

 ANTARCTIC* 



Erich von Drygalski 



Among the many Antarctic problems awaiting solution, those 

 bearing on oceanography have especially been the subject of active 

 discussion. This has been the case not only because the ocean sur- 

 rounds the whole Antarctic Continent as an uninterrupted ring 

 of waters and is in contact with all parts of that continent in practi- 

 cally the same latitudes and under ice conditions that do not sub- 

 stantially vary, but also chiefly because the influence of the Antarctic 

 on the ocean waters was known to extend northward far beyond the 

 equator. The former circumstance brings it about that the individual 

 phenomena of all three oceans, i. e. their temperature, salinity, and gas 

 content, as well as their organic life, are influenced by the Antarctic 

 in all longitudes practically in the same way; and the second circum- 

 stance showed that this influence is so potent that it must still be 

 taken into consideration in the case of regions far distant from the 

 Antarctic in order to understand the character of other lands and 

 seas. For in this matter oceanographic phenomena are by no means 

 the only ones that have to be considered. As the sea surface is, 

 according to Hermann Wagner, 2.42 times as great as the whole land 

 surface of the earth, the sea has a correspondingly greater influence 

 on the atmosphere and on its thermal regime and other forms of 

 energy. This determines indirectly not only the phenomena of the 

 atmosphere but the inorganic and organic development of the lands. 

 Thus the ocean is the great power reservoir of the earth — indeed, 

 some of the Ionic natural philosophers interpreted it as the source of 

 everything; and, as the ocean receives part of its energy from the 

 Antarctic, it is important to examine the power sources of that area. 



Influence of the Antarctic on Lower Latitudes 



Because of the uniformity of the water masses of the ocean and 

 the ready mobility of their parts, temperature and salinity and plant 

 and animal life would develop in the same way if they were every- 

 where subjected to the same external conditions. The different 

 intensity of sunshine in different latitudes as well as the different 

 reflection of this warmth by coasts of many varying forms disturb 



*Translated by the editor from the German original written for the present volume. The transla- 

 tion has profited from a revision kindly undertaken by Mr. H. A. Marmer. 



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