470 THE SWEDISH ANTAECTIC EXPEDITION". 



here a vearh' mean of about 20 or 25^ Fahrenheit. Instead of this 

 we obtained for the lirst jeav +10.04'^ Fahrenheit. Though it is 

 possible that this temperature is somewhat lower than general, as the 

 summer was undoubtedly exceptionalh' cold, and even the mean for 

 the eight colder months (March-October) was in the first year 2.3^ 

 Fahrenheit, but in the second 4", it does not seem probable that the 

 difference from that general mean temperature should l)e even so great 

 as between the two winters. A mean temperature of 10- Fahrenheit 

 at the same distance from the pole is in the northern hemisphere found 

 in the environs of Hudson Strait, and in Siberia, in the region of 

 Yakutsk, still one or two degrees farther south. In both cases we 

 see the influence of the extremely low winter temperatures of a con- 

 tinental climate, while for a thoroughly marine climate the tempera- 

 ture is unexpectedly low. It must be left to the discussion of the 

 observations of the other expeditions contemporaneous with ours, 

 including the Scotia expedition, to discover whether there exists an 

 especiall}" cold area on the east coast of Graham Land, or even south 

 of the Atlantic Ocean. 



The difference in temperature ])etween summer and winter is, of 

 course, not so great as in the regions mentioned, and, notwithstanding 

 that the temperature of the three winter months was during the two 

 years as low as —4"^' Fahrenheit, the winter could not be called very 

 cold if it was not for the wind. The great violence of the wind in all 

 antarctic regions is a well-known fact, but I doul)t if a violence such 

 as that during our first winter has ever been experienced in an arctic 

 or antarctic climate, itnd even the average for the whole time nuist 

 ])e considered unexpectedly high." However, the table shows that 

 the dift'erences between difierent seasons, and also between different 

 years, are very great. 



The factor that really determines the climate is the direction of the 

 wdnd. The situation of the station, on the shore of a strait, may par- 

 tially account for the predominance of the winds from the southwest 

 and northeast quadrants. Besides this, there is a high percentage of 

 calm, or nearly calm, weather. The southwest winds are by far the 

 most common and the strongest, and because they are also the coldest 

 all the really bad weather is to be ascribed to them. The calm hours 

 are not much warmer, but of course their influence on the general 

 feeling is al)Solutely difl'erent. The real northeast winds are compar- 

 atively strong and cold; but, besides them, there is another class of 

 winds which are, if not as common as the others, still exceedingly 

 characteristic of the climate. They are the winds from north or even 

 north-northwest, and when once started they are very strong and very 



« The only similar observations from the Antarctic hitherto published are those 

 by the Borchgrevink expedition (preliminary), the mean being considerably lower 

 than ours. 



