TABLE 117. AREAS OF OPEN WATER DURING THE SUMMER 

 MONTHS IN CHUCKCHEE SEA (1924 TO 1938) 



In examining the above-cited figures and tables it must be remembered that all of them have 

 only a relative significance for navigation. The determining factor for navigation is not the quantity 

 of ice in the whole area of the sea but its distribution along the course of the Northern Sea Route. 



From tables 114 to 117 it follows that, on the average, in the seas of the Soviet Arctic from 

 the Barents Sea to the Chuckchee, 1, 500, 000 square km of ice melt away annually. If we take the 

 average ice thickness as equal to 2 m (taking polynyas into consideration), we obtain 3, 000 cubic km. 



LITERATURE: 32, 77, 85, 147, 150, 160, 171. 



Section 156. Long Term Fluctuations 



The data cited above give an indication of a certain average ice-abundance of the given region. 

 In certain years, however, as observations show, extremely sharp deviations to one side or the 

 other of the norm may occur, and what is more, in only a few cases are we able to explain these 

 deviations. Thus, for example, it is known that from 1892 to 1897 a considerable increase in 

 quantity of ice was observed in the antarctic. A similar ice "eruption" reoccurred in the antarctic 

 in 1922. Typical for the Barents Sea was the ice "eruption" of 1929, when a few individual icebergs 

 went as far as the Murmansk coast. The greatest quantity of floating ice in the Barents Sea was 

 noted in 1901, 1912, and 1917.* Conversely, 1930, 1931 and 1932 were exceptionally low in ice 

 quantity. 



In the region south of Newrfoundland there was very little ice in the years 1881, 1917, 1924 and 

 1931, while 1890, 1909, 1912 and especially 1929 were years of ice "eruptions. " 



Table 118 shows the maximum and minimum areas of open water in August in the seas of the 

 Soviet Arctic. From the table we may see how much the quantity of ice and area of open water 

 fluctuates from year to year. 



A number of hypotheses have, of course, been advanced to explain the above noted anomalies, 

 but in proportion to the prolonged period of observations and the accumulation of data they are, so 

 far, all of little value. 



Some consider the fluctuations of ice-abundance to be periodic. Thus, Meinardus defined a 

 periodicity of 4. 5 years for the Greenland floating ice. Brooks and Kennell, recomputing the data 

 of Meinardus, consider the period as 4. 76 years. Vize obtained a similar period independently of 

 Brooks and Kennell. 



*In the middle of August 1903, the western ice-edge in the Pechor Sea extended from the 

 Gulyaevskie Islands to the west coast of Novaya Zemlya and beyond in a 30 mile strip to the north 

 along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya to Matochkin Shar. 



457 



