EXPLORATION BY AIRCRAFT 389 



This area could also readily be reached by aircraft from Spits- 

 bergen, but dog teams would be of no use there because of the diffi- 

 culty and hazard of traveling on the rapidly moving ice between 

 Spitsbergen and Greenland. An advanced base might be established 

 by airplane on Peary Land from Kings Bay, Spitsbergen, but to keep 

 the plane there for the time necessary to investigate any newly found 

 land would be, at this stage of airplane development and knowledge, 

 too hazardous for practical consideration. 



Some unexplored parts of the continental shelf are within striking 

 distance by aircraft from Point Barrow and vicinity. The situation 

 here is somewhat similar to that at Etah. The surface ship, with 

 dog team and aircraft, should reach Point Barrow in July or August 

 and winter there for thorough, effective work. 



Wrangel Island would be a splendid place for a main base. Of 

 course, an experienced ice captain would be necessary, as there would 

 be hazard to the steamer from the ice. Here, too, it would be advisable 

 to spend the winter. It would appear to be generally true that no 

 detailed work can be done in the Arctic Sea without spending at least 

 one winter at a main base. 



If the flights of the exploring aircraft are too far away from its 

 base, any land that is found may be beyond the range of dog teams; 

 therefore, for sane and thorough work it is thought to be more prac- 

 ticable to keep the aircraft flights down to a reasonable limit. Of 

 course, if the object is merely to locate the land, spectacular flights 

 would be in order for anyone willing to take the hazard. 



Proceeding around to the westward, main bases could be formed 

 with advantage at the New Siberian Islands, Northern Land, and 

 Franz Josef Land. If there is difficulty in locating a base on Northern 

 Land on account of the ice, a base could be established in the vicinity 

 of Cape Chelyuskin, Taimyr Peninsula. Incidentally, Northern 

 Land is only incompletely surveyed, the location of its western coast 

 being totally unknown, and an excellent and quick method of com- 

 pleting our knowledge of this land would be to explore it with a long- 

 distance airplane and a mapping camera. 



The southern limit of the ice pack during the summer seems to 

 vary from year to year, and for different longitudes. Nansen, on his 

 famous drift across the Arctic Sea, froze in during September in ap- 

 proximately latitude 78° N. This was farther north than the southern 

 limit of the New Siberian Islands and in the same latitude as the 

 southern coast of Northern Land. 



So little of the Antarctic is known, that a base established any- 

 where on its border would, for the air explorer, be at the threshold of 

 unknown regions. A combination of airplanes and dog teams would 

 be preferable in the Antarctic also. Airships would be of little use on 

 account of the strong winds. So far as we know, Amundsen's winter 



