68° 



67° 



66' 



65' 



64' 



Zl OPEN WATER 

 SI ICE 



S3' 35° 37' 33' 41' 43" 



Figure 172. Ice distribution in the White Sea, 14 April 1943. 



In figure 104 we showed the ice conditions in the White Sea on 17 to 18 April, 1942. Com- 

 paring figures 104 and 172, which show approximately identical dates of the year, we see a striking 

 difference in the ice conditions. In the first case almost the entire sea was filled with ice, in the 

 second there is hardly any ice. I will subsequently return to the question of variability of ice 

 behavior. 



The winter of 1941-42 was in general unusually severe in the White Sea, and the possibility of 

 navigation, even for powerful icebreakers, was determined for the most part by synoptic conditions. 

 The following example is descriptive. 



By 13 January the Finno-Scandinavian high pressure cell developed in the north of the Euro- 

 pean part of the USSR, and the Ob low over the basins of the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. As a result of 

 such a distribution of pressure centers, strong northerly winds prevailed over the basin of the White 

 Sea, attaining a force of 6 to 7 (0700, 18 January). As a result, an edge of heavy ice descended in 

 the neck of the White Sea almost to the parallel of the Ponoi, proceeded approximately along the 

 middle of the neck and thence into the basin itself, descending almost to the Solovetsksra Ostrova. 



The whole of the Dvina Bay was stopped up with such hummocked and compressed ice that 

 even such a powerful icebreaker as the Lenin was practically unable to move in the southern part 

 of Dvina Bay. 



Reports of about the same nature were received from the icebreakers Sib iryakov and 

 LitKe which were at that time in the White Sea near the Letni shore. 



438 



