I9IS.] IN AIR CIRCULATION OF THE GLOBE. 211 



" As regards the Antarctic Anticyclone, I have certainly not expressed 

 myself quite clearly in my ' Klimatologie,' as you very fairly point out. 



"It is certain that an area of pressure, which is higher than that of the 

 surrounding area, lying over a chilled continent, or over any considerable land 

 area, can coexist with a great polar cyclone, for instance, round the South 

 Pole. The very low temperature can produce in the lower strata of the 

 atmosphere a pressure higher than its environments. The anticyclone, how- 

 ever, must be very shallow, and at a moderate elevation the ordinary circula- 

 tion of the atmosphere must reestablish itself. ... It is just possible that 

 further inland a slight increase of pressure might be observable. There is 

 certainly no chance of the existence of a real continental anticyclone, inas- 

 much as at Cape Adare the barometer falls from summer to winter."5i 



The above and later qualified statements by Hann'^- fail to 

 take proper recognition of the facts as known at the time, and in 

 treatises on meteorology published within the last five years, the 

 circum-polar whirls are still treated with slight qualifications of 

 statement, and as though in harmony with observed facts. ^^ 



Viezu of Meinardus. — Probably the fullest discussion of this 

 subject is that of Meinardus in 1909, who is so firmly convinced 

 that the anticyclonic conditions that were encoutered in Kaiser 

 Wilhelm Land at the margin of the inland-ice, cannot have an 

 upward extension beyond 2,000-3,000 meters, that he even proph- 

 esied for the interior portions of Antarctica a bare land area desti- 

 tute of snow.^* He says : 



" The elevated parts of Antarctica above 2,000-3,000 meters extend into 

 the great cyclone of the polar whirl and encounter westerly air currents 

 during the entire year. With this verification, which also further can be 

 supported by certain observations from the marginal region, there follows 

 the conclusion that the Antarctic anticyclone can in general be present as 

 active element in the air circulation only in the lower parts of the South 

 Polar region. ... At the sea level and on the borders of the inland-ice, that 



SI Letter written to Captain R. F. Scott in 1900, The Antarctic Manual, 

 1901, p. 34. 



52 " Lehrbuch der Meteorologie," 2te aufl., 1906, p. 345 ; Klimatologie, 

 Vol. I, 1908, p. 334. 



53 Moore, " Descriptive Meteorology," 1910, p. 141. Milham, " Meteor- 

 ology," 1912, p. 162. 



54 W. Meinardus, " Meteorologische Ergebnisse der Winterstation der 

 ' Gauss,' 1902-03, Deutsche Siidpolar Expedition 1901-03," Vol. 3 (MeteoroL, 

 I., Vol. i), p. 332. (The italics are in the original, W. H. H.) 



