POLAR EXPLORATION BY AIRPLANE 



George H. Wilkins 



Plans for polar exploration by aircraft must necessarily depend 

 on the type of exploration undertaken. An expedition may be confined 

 to reconnaissance or it may undertake more detailed work — in survey- 

 ing (by means of aerial photography and the use of fixed positions 

 on the ground), oceanography, geology, and meteorology. The type 

 of equipment used will depend on the class of work to be done. 



Flying Conditions in Different Parts of the 

 Polar Regions 



Long-distance flying in the Arctic is not more hazardous than long- 

 distance flying in other regions. Under certain conditions, such as 

 over the extensive swamps and large jungle areas of the tropics, over 

 deserts, mountains, and among inhospitable people, the hazards are 

 greater than in the Arctic. 



There is a wide difference between Arctic and Antarctic conditions. 

 An airplane expedition to the known sections of the Antarctic would 

 meet with winds of prolonged high velocity that may set in without 

 warning. There is, however, one section of the Antarctic coast, as 

 yet unexplored, where only normal winds may be expected. This 

 section lies between King Edward VII Land and Graham Land. The 

 few soundings taken in this vicinity point to the possibility of a low 

 coast and therefore an absence of the turbulent winds that rush down 

 to the sea from the edge of the high polar plateau in the known portions 

 of the Antarctic Continent. 



There are atmospheric disturbances in the Arctic, but they occur 

 more frequently about the Arctic Circle than nearer the pole. There 

 are, judging from records collected, no smoother air conditions in the 

 world than those over the Arctic Sea during the late winter and 

 spring. During summer and autumn, when the Arctic ice pack is 

 much broken and the atmosphere laden with moisture, meteorological 

 obstacles may be met. The greatest obstacle that faces an aviator 

 in any latitude is low visibility as the result of low clouds and fog. 

 The difficulty with fog would probably be less in the Arctic than 

 elsewhere because all available records show that the layer of fog 

 covering the Arctic ice during summer is thinner than that usually 

 met in lower latitudes. Also, in flying over the sea ice, where there 

 are no elevated points to avoid, it would be possible to fly low enough 



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