Section 23. Precipitation 



Precipitation always dilutes, to a degree, the surface layers of the ocean. In the arctic, the 

 amount of precipitation is so limited that it is practically of no significance . 



TABLE 17 . THE AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION (IN MM) IN THE ARCTIC IN SUMMER 



Points 



Number of Days 

 with Precipitation 



Gugorskiy Shar , . . 

 Matochkin Shar . . . 

 Mys Zhelariya . . . 

 Bukhta Tikyaya , . . 

 Ostrov Dikson (Diksona) 

 Bukhta Jiksi .... 

 Ostrov B. Lyakhovskiy 

 Mys Shmidta . . . 

 Ostrov Vrangelya . . 



Uelen 



Fram (1894-1895) . . 

 Sedou (1939) . . . 



58 

 47 

 50 

 51 

 57 

 47 

 39 

 ? 



39 

 40 

 70 

 39 



Table 17, based on data by Vize, lists the amount of precipitation in summer at certain 

 points in the Soviet Arctic. The quantity of precipitation in solid form in winter is impossible to 

 determine because of problems with instruments . * 



The extremely small amount of precipitation listed in table 17, 

 is noteworthy. 



especially for arctic islands, 



The precipitation increases somewhat in autumn (October to November) but during the winter 

 months (December to April), with prevailing clear weather and low temperature, it drops to min- 

 imum values. ** 



The same table lists the mean amounts of precipitation in 1894-1895, on the basis of the Fram 

 observations, and in 1939, on the basis of the Sedou observations. We can see the small amount 

 of precipitation in the central arctic in comparison to the amount in its marginal seas. 



Another characteristic of the arctic is the great number of days with precipitation versus the 

 small amount of precipitation. Drizzling rains and drizzles are the prevailing forms of precipi- 

 tation in summer . 



*First of all, the snow falling at low temperature in the form of minute particles is easily 

 blown out of snow gages and, secondly, in stroi^ snowstorms and blizzards, the snow is continu- 

 ously transferred from one place to another, denuding the ice in one place and forming snowdrifts 

 elsewhere . 



** It should be noted that, generally, the coastal meterological observations do not give an idea 

 on the regime of precipitation, even in the adjacent parts of the ocean. Indeed, rising currents are 

 formed with sea winds on leeward slopes of mountains, which, in connection with a drop in the tem- 

 perature of air masses, induce the condensation of water vapor and precipitation, while at a small 

 distance from the coast no precipitation takes place. I repeatedly observed this phenomenon when 

 cruising along the north coast of Norway and Murman during northwesterly winds and along the 

 west coast of Novaya Zemlya during southwesterly winds. 



51 



