I9IS.] IN AIR CIRCULATION OF THE GLOBE. 205 



Amundsen, Scott noticed a slight descent toward the pole from 

 latitude 89^°, which, taken in connection with Shackleton's obser- 

 vations, would indicate that a crest of the inland-ice lies to the west- 

 ward of the routes. ^*^ 



Recent Data from Greenland. — The account of de Quervain's 

 transection of Greenland in 1912 in latitudes 66° to 70° N., affords 

 strikingly similar pictures. Whereas for the first three weeks of 

 the journey upon the inland-ice, or until the ascent had been made 

 to the interior plain, the outward blowing winds had been so con- 

 stant as to be depended upon in laying the course ; shifting winds 

 of light force were encountered upon the plateau, and when the 

 grade had been reduced to 3" of arc even ,west or northwest winds 

 blew for short intervals. The air appeared to be strongly sat- 

 urated with moisture, and at times only the heads of the party would 

 be visible at moderate distances because of the bank of mist, and 

 beards, chins, caps, etc., became frozen into solid masses of ice. 

 Once over the divide, where the slope took on a descent of 8' of arc, 

 the wind blew strongly from the northwest.^''' 



The expedition of Koch and Wegener which crossed Green- 

 land in its widest section (in latitudes 71° to 79°), perhaps fur- 

 nishes us with the most satisfactory evidence that has yet become 

 available upon meteorological conditions above the central boss of a 

 continental glacier ; for the reason that no other expedition has 

 penetrated so close to the heart of the area. From the preliminary 

 report we learn that above the flat dome of the ice shield, an area 

 of atmospheric calm was encountered and much mist, which in the 

 morning was generally so dense as to hide the sun. The air was so 

 supersaturated with moisture that the clothing was constantly wet 

 and could be dried only occasionally and with much difficulty. 

 Everywhere above the altitude of 2,000 meters the snow surface 

 was granular and underlain by coarser grained material, though 

 without hard separating crusts. ^^ 



Despite the supersaturation of the air and the frequent deposi- 

 tion of minute ice crystals from the clouds, it is pretty clear that if 



2^ " Scott's Last Expedition," Vol. i, pp. 363-383. 

 3^ A. de Quervain, " Quer durchs Gronlandeis," 1914, pp. 85-137. 

 3^ Alfred Wegener, " Vorlaufiger Bericht iiber die wissenschaftHchen 

 Ergebnisse der Expedition," Zeitsch. d. Gesell. f. Erdk. s. Berlin, 1914. 



