Atmospheric turbulence is characterized by variability in force and direction of wind. In 

 May 1943 increased atmospheric turbulence and increased air temperatures were observed. This 

 conjunction of favorable dynamic and thermal factors in the final result caused the favorable condi- 

 tions for the springtime destruction of the ice. 



Finally, in table 119 there are listed the anomalies of air temperatures passing through -2° 

 and through 0° on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. These data are extremely approximate but they 

 are typical in the respect that these transits took place everjAvhere earlier than the normal. This 

 refers especially to the Kara and Chuckchee Seas. 



TABLE 119. DEVIATIONS FROM AVERAGE DATES OF TRANSIT 

 OF AIR TEMPERATURE THROUGH -2° AND 0° C AT 

 STATIONS OF THE SOVIET ARCTIC - SPRING 1943 

 (IN DAYS) 



Worthy of particular attention is the fact that in 1943 all the anomalies noted were favorable 

 for navigation, that they extended to all the seas, and that in actuality navigation was extremely 

 easy in 1943 along the entire course of the Northern Sea Route. The total area of clear water at the 

 end of the navigational period in the Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Chuckchee Seas amounted to 

 almost 2, 000, 000 square km which is unprecedented in the history of the arctic. The ice opposition 

 of the Kara and Chukotsk Seas (which was mentioned in Section 156) did not take place in 1943. 



LITERATURE: 27, 58, 62, 77. 



Section 162. Warming of the Arctic 



Along with the fluctuations in ice abundance in each individual sea from year to year, in late 

 years a most interesting phenomenon has been observed— a warming of the arctic, as evidenced 

 by a gradual and universal decrease in ice abundance. The main evidences of this general warming 

 of the arctic are: 



1. Receding of glaciers and "melting away" of islands. According to the testimony of 

 Wegener, all the Greenland glaciers which descend into Northeast Bay and Disko Bay, have been 



470 



