396 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1054 



riods of comparative calm are noticeable. On 

 ^November 19, during good weather, at an ele- 

 vation of 2,600 feet tbe temperature fluctuated 

 between zero and 18°, but five days later witb 

 a wind of 40 miles per hour it sank to — 10°. 

 On December 18, at 5,500 feet, the temperature 

 rose with fine weather twenty-four degrees in 

 a day, while the black bulb registered 105° in 

 the sun. 



Wild's station, Queen Mary Land, 66° 30' S., 

 95° E., about 1,200 miles to the westward of 

 Mawson's on Adelie Land, appears from the 

 few data available to be somewhat warmer, 

 although the extremes were greater, a mimi- 

 mum of — 38° being reported on December 21, 

 1912. The m.onthly mean temperature for 

 June, 1912, was — 14.5°, and for July — 1.5°, 

 while the means for the German expedition, 

 under Drygalski, about 150 miles to the west- 

 ward, in 66° 2' S., 89° 38' E., in 1902 were 

 0.5° for June, — 0.6° for July, and for a year 

 11.3°. From these comparative data the an- 

 nual mean at "Wild's station. Queen Mary 

 Land, would be about 8°. Field observations 

 on the glacier-covered hinterland show a mini- 

 mum of — 47°, and a reading of 87° on De- 

 cember 21, from a thermometer laid on an area 

 of black rock. These data probably give an 

 approximation to the annual mean tempera- 

 ture of slightly above zero, Fahrenheit, along 

 the antarctic circle for say 2,000 miles, be- 

 tween 86° and 150° E. longitude. 



Bearing on the intimate local relations be- 

 tween the winds and the temperatures of 

 Adelie Land, Mawson says: 



The stronger the wind blew, the less variation 

 did the thermometer show. Over a period of sev- 

 eral days there might be a range of only four or 

 five degrees. . . . The compression of the atmos- 

 phere during the gusts affected the air tempera- 

 ture so considerably that, coincident with their 

 passages, the mercury column would be seen rising 

 and falling through several degrees. 



The only statement available as to the 

 barometer reading runs: 



On July 11, 1913, there was an exceptionally 

 low barometer at 27.794 inches. At the same time 

 the wind ran riot once more — 298 miles in three 

 hours. The barometric curve, remarkably even, 



did not show as much range as one twentieth of an 

 inch. The highest barometric reading was on 

 September 3, 30.4 inches, and the comparison indi- 

 cates a wide range for a station at sea-level. . . . 



Annual barometric means in other portions 

 of the Antarctic regions are as follows : Dis- 

 covery, 77° 51' S., 167° E., 1902-04, 29.29 

 inches; Cape Adare, Victoria Land, 2 months 

 only, 29.134; Belgica, 70° 30' S., 88° 30' W., 

 1902-03, 29.307; Gauss, 66° 2' S., 89° 38' E., 

 1902-03, 29.134. The data of Mawson's expe- 

 dition will have a bearing on the theory quite 

 steadily advanced, but which the writer has 

 been inclined to question, of a marked anti- 

 cyclonic area over the vicinity of the South 

 Pole. 



The extreme violence of the winds, and the 

 general prevalence of drifting snow have made 

 it impossible to measure with any degree of 

 definiteness the snowfall of Adelie Land. 

 Heavy falls of snow occurred, one being men- 

 tioned as amounting in a day to two feet. Of 

 the effect of the wind on the snow Mawson 

 says: 



First, under the flail of the incessant wind, a 

 crust would form, never strong enough to bear a 

 man. Next day the crust would be etched, and 

 small flakes and pellets would be carried away. 

 Long shallow concavities would now be scooped 

 out; these became deeper hour by hour, becom- 

 ing at last the troughs between the crests of the 

 snow- waves or sastrugi. 



The abrasive effects of the drifting snow 

 were astonishing. He adds: 



The southern, windward faces of exposed rocks 

 were on the whole smooth and rounded; the lee- 

 ward faces were rougher and more disintegrated. 

 On the windward side the harder portions of the 

 non-homogeneous rocks were raised in relief. 



Of quantities he says: 



Day by day deluges of drift streamed by the 

 Hut, at times so dense as to obscure objects three 

 feet away, until it seemed as if the atmosphere 

 were almost solid snow. 



Mawson adds : 



A point which struck me was the enormous 

 amount of cold communicated to the sea by bil- 

 lions of tons of low-temperature snow thrown upon 



