March ir, 1875 J 



NATURE 



367 



ice as far as 78° N. lat.,iiorUi of Nowaja Semlja, and their inten- 

 tion at the second expedition was to investigate this sea in an 

 easterly direction, taking tlie Siberian coast as basis, and depend- 

 ing on tlie influence of the great Siberian rivers, whose great 

 qaantities of comparatively warm water probably free the coast 

 from ice almost every summer. 



Unfortunately the year 1872 was one of the most unfavourable 

 ever seen. Already in 74" '5 N. lat. the explorers found ice ; 

 they could only reach Cape Nassau with great difficulty, and 

 were finally blocked up by packed ice in a locality where, in the 

 previous and following years, there was no ice for one hundred 

 German miles round. They never got within the reach of the 

 Siberian rivers, and the uncertainty with regard to their influence 

 upon the ice along the Siberian coast is still the same as ever. 

 But one point is clearly proved, namely, that the conditions of 

 ice between Spitzbergen and Nowaja Semlja are highly variable 

 from year to j'car ; this circumstance, more than any other, 

 speaks against the advisability of future expeditions to be made 

 on the basis of Franz-Joseph's Land. In 1874 the explorers 

 found the ice again in the same position as in 1871 ; there is 

 perhaps a certain periodicity in this. 



Lieut. Weyprecht formerly thought that marine currents were 

 the principal cause of the general motion of the ice in Arctic 

 regions ; he is now of a different opinion, as he maintains that 

 during the drift of their vessel, which was frozen in, in packed ice, 

 and drifted in this state for over fourteen months, the influence 

 of currents was imperceptible compared to that of winds upon the 

 drifting ice. The existence of Gulf-stream water in the great area 

 between Norway, Spitzbergen, and Nowaja Semlja is undeni- 

 able ; the current cannot, however, be traced directly by its 

 course, but rather by the unproportionally high sea-temperatures 

 in those high latitudes. As a natural consequence of this, the Gulf- 

 stream does not regulate the limits of ice, but the ice, set in motion 

 by winds, regulates the limits of the warmer Gulf-stream water, 

 depriving the same of the last degrees of heat which it contains. 

 A comparison of the Haiisa drift witlr the winds would show 

 whether on the cast coast of Greenland the drift of ice is only 

 produced by the latter; Sir L. M 'Clintock proves with figures that 

 this decidedly is the case in Daffln's Bay. The speed of the drift 

 of course depends upon the force of the winds, local conditions, 

 vicinity of consts, and the more or less open water. The great 

 influence of the wind upon the ice-fields is explained by their 

 ruggedness ; each projecting block represents a sail. 



In the vicinity of coasts it is somewhat difl'erent; immense 

 currents are often perceived there, originating through the tides, 

 or perhaps through the motion of the ice itself and the winds. 



There is a decided general tendency in the ice to move south- 

 ward during the summer ; the reason of this may be the flowing 

 off of melteil water m all directions, which causes a broaking- 

 up of the whole Arctic mass of ice. But all other influences 

 upon the motion of the ice are nearly imperceptible when com- 

 pared to that of winds, and can only be traced in their most general 

 effects. It is quite certain, however, that in the south of Franz- 

 Joseph's Land there is a constant flaw of ice from east to west, 

 i.c. from the Siberian sea. If the field of ice which held Lieut. 

 Weyprecht's ship a prisoner had not attached itself to Wilczek 

 Island, it would have drifted towards the northern end of Spitz- 

 bergen ; he arrives at this conclusion from observing the winds 

 of last winter. 



To the influence of winds Lieut. Weyprecht also ascribes the 

 existence of open water near all west coasts in those regions : he 

 found the main direction of winter-storms in Franz-Joseph's Land 

 to be E.N.E. ; the ice under west coasts is therefore constantly 

 broken up. Lieut. Payer, on the northernmost point he reached, 

 was stopped from extending his sledge journeys further by open 

 water near a west coast, upon which he was travelling. 



Also, with regard to quality, the ice in those seas is very variable. 

 While in the summer of 1873 the explorers could not see the 

 end of the field in v/hich their ship was frozen in, they never met 

 fields of such an extent during their retreat ; also, with regard to 

 thickness, there was great variety. In 1S73 their field formed 

 an irregular frozen mass, with high ice walls m all directions and 

 immense protuberances ; in 1874 they found much greater even- 

 ness, and although thawing had begun so late that they almost 

 perished with thirst during a month and a half, the ice was so 

 ihin in some places at ihe end of July that they ofcen broke 

 through w hile drawing their sledges. During the drift the whole 

 mass was doubtless packed very closely ; the field, in spite of the 

 constant drifting motion, did not turn round, the bow of the 

 ship pointing always in the same direction ; only in September, 

 when the field was greatly reduced, it began to turn ; in October 



and November large holes were seen in it in the vicinity of the 

 coast, towards the south. 



Whether Franz-Joseph's Land can again be reached by ship 

 Lieut. Weyprecht thinks mainly dependent on favourable con- 

 ditions of weather and ice ; in any case a very warm summer 

 will be necessary, and then it couUl be done only lite in the 

 year. As the most favourable point to start from in such an 

 expedition, he indicates 45^ East long., as here he found the 

 barrier of ice in 1S71 to be 'fifty German miles more to the north 

 than in 60° E. long. 



In the preliminary expedition of 1871, Lieut. Weyprecht 

 found sure signs of the vicinity of land in 43" E. long, and 

 78^.75 N. lat., and accordingly he proposed this unknown land 

 as the basis for futui-e expeditions sent to reach the pole. The 

 mysterious GiUis-Land is situated upon 30° E. long. The south 

 coast of Franz-Joseph's Land was seen by Payer at least as far as 

 50° E. long. Lieut. Weyprecht now thinks he may be permitted 

 to conclude that these three points are connected. Thus Franz- 

 Joseph's Land would become greatly extended in a western 

 direction. Numerous icebergs floating along the coast seem to 

 confirm this idea, and it is hardly necessary to point out how 

 much the interest in Arctic investigation would be increased by 

 this idea proving a correct one. 



During a year aud a half the explorers had constant oppor- 

 tunities closely to observe the behaviour and formation of 

 [lacked ice. The phenomenon is instructive, as it is the same in 

 the whole of the Arctic regions. With the exception of land- 

 ice, which clings to the coasts and never reaches far out into the 

 sea, all ice — icebergs as well as fields— is in constant motion, 

 winter and summer ; and this, as has been shown, is through the 

 influence of winds. The motion, however, is a different one 

 almost with every field, and thus a certain pressure results 

 wherever two fields touch ; this naturally leads to the breaking 

 up of the fields, and the contraction of the ice during sudden low 

 temperatures plays its part in a similar way. If one considers 

 the great extent of the fields, sometimes of many miles, and their 

 enormous masses, one can easily imagine the colossal forces 

 which are active in these phenomena, and the greatness of their 

 effects. When two fields meet, a combat body to body ensues, 

 often lasting only a few minutes, but sometimes even for days 

 and weeks. The edges are then turned up on both sides, up- 

 wards and downwards, an irregular wall of ice consisting of 

 wildly-mixed blocks begins to build itself, the pressure increases 

 more and more, masses of ice eight feet long and broad are lified 

 30 to 40 feet high, and then fall to make room for others. At 

 last one of the fields begins to shift itself for some distance 

 underneath the other one ; often they separate for a while, only 

 to renew the struggle. But the end of it always is that the 

 intense cold unites all into one solid mass ; a single field results 

 from the two, and the next storm or quick change of tempera- 

 ture cracks the new field in some other direction, the pieces 

 renewing the old struggle. This is the origin of the ice-fields, 

 which aie quite irregular above and below, sometimes only con- 

 si,-ting of blocks that have frozen together, and filling up the 

 whole Arctic region as so-called pack-ice. 



During winter, snow-storms fill up all smaller irregularities 

 completely. As soon as the sun begins its action, the crushing 

 of the ice decreases, the winterly ice walls diminish consider- 

 ably, immense masses of ice and snow are melted, and the 

 resulting sweet water forms large lakes on all the lower even 

 parts of the fields. Duiiiig the summer, about four feet of ice are 

 thus melted down from above ; of course the whole field and 

 everything upon it — the explorer's ship, for instance — is raised so 

 much higher. In the following winter it grows below in the 

 same ratio, and thus the whole of the ice is in an uninterrupted 

 process of renovation, from below upwards ; we may conclude 

 that all the old pack-ice is replaced by new in the course of 

 two years. 



The spaces of open water which naturally occur during the 

 great crushes are soon again covered by fresh ice in winter ; the 

 intense cold keeps repairing the broken field of ice. Lieut. 

 Weyprecht observed that within twenty-four hours, and with a 

 temperature of- 30° to 40° R. (37'5 — 50° C), the new ciust 

 becomes about a foot thick. The salt of the sea-waler has not 

 time to be displaced entirely, the formation of ice going on too 

 quickly, and a considerable quantity freezes into the upper strata 

 of the ice ; this quantity decreases downwards as the ice takes 

 more time to form. Beginning at a certain thickness, the ice is 

 almost free from salt. The upper strata, however, on account 

 of the salt they contain, attract moisture in a great degree, and 

 form a tough, leathery mass which bends under foot without 



