TABLE 99. RESULTS OF OBSERVATIONS OF THE FRAM DURING ITS DRIFT FROM 

 7 NOVEMBER 1893 TO 27 JUNE 1896 



Resultant wind direction 



Resultant total drift direction 



Drift angle 



Angle between the current and the 

 resultant of the wind 



Angle between the resultant of the wind 

 and pure wind drift 



Average wind speed 



Average drift velocity 



Average velocity of the steady current 



Average drift 



Wind drift caused by a wind speed of 

 Im/sec 



Wind factor 



Wind drift 



Average of the 76 Segments Investigated by Nansen 



Wind drift caused by a wind speed of 

 Im/sec 



Drift angle 



341° 

 340° 

 -1° 

 +25.5° 



+37.5° 



0.757 m/sec 

 1.07 miles/day 

 0. 73 miles/day 

 0. 52 miles/day 

 0. 69 miles/day 



0.0148 



2. 98 miles/day 

 0. 85 miles/day 



28° 



Using Nansen' s observations as our basis we can consider that on an average over deep sea 

 and far from the distorting effect of land, the wind drift of ice obeys the following laws: 



1. The drift of ice In the Arctic Basin deviates approximately 28° to the right of the wind 

 direction. 



2. The wind factor is approximately 0. 02, or, in other words, the pure wind drift is 

 approximately 50 times slower than the wind speed which causes the drift. 



In what follows, departures from these values are usually assumed to indicate steady cur- 

 rents of corresponding velocity and direction or the presence of obstacles (islands, underwater 

 shoals) which change the normal wind drift of the ice. 



The discovery of Vize Island (in the northern part of the Kara Sea) shows how fruitful a 

 comparison of the wind direction and the wind drift of ice fields can be. 



As early as 1924, Vize pointed out some features of the wind drift of the vessel Suyataya 

 Anna caught in the ice off the Yamal Peninsula in 1912 and then carried off together with the ice 

 northward into the Arctic Basin where the ship disappeared without a trace. 



358 



