1915] IN AIR CIRCULATION OF THE GLOBE. 219 



coast, was there " an approximation to establishing " a relationship 

 between an extremely rare northwest wind in the upper levels and 

 a deep low area which lay over the Greenland Sea.^^ 



The High Pressure Storms and the " Tauhen" Depressions 

 Registered at Danniarks-H aven. — In connection with the series of 

 continuous meteorological observations made at Danmarks-Haven 

 in northeast Greenland, Wegener found that while low pressure 

 areas of normal character arrived at the station, they appeared to 

 proceed from the area of the Greenland Sea ; and in the absence of 

 parallel observations, he assumed from the southward. The great 

 storms came with an expansion of the high pressure area lying 

 above the continent — so-called " high pressure storms." During the 

 two years over which the observations extended, there passed over 

 the station on two occasions (October and January), what Wegener 

 has called " tauben '"^° depressions. On these occasions the barom- 

 eter took a deep plunge with reverse movement, as it does during 

 the passage of a tropical cyclone ; yet there resulted neither pre- 

 cipitation of any kind nor any wind worthy of mention. This 

 rather remarkable phenomenon Wegener has sought to explain as 

 due to a cyclonic movement which has " sprung over " the anti- 

 cyclone above the inland-ice, and in so doing has been robbed of its 

 moisture,'^" and also, it would seem, of its circulation. 



In view of all the facts, there is reason to doubt that " low " 

 areas ever get across the larger domes of inland-ice ; and the storm 

 paths which Vincent has drawn across the continent of Greenland 

 as though it were an expanse of ocean, should be accorded little 

 weight, though it would seem that Wegener has been somewhat 

 influenced by them.'^^ 



6s De Quervain, " Gleichzeitige Pilotballonaufstiege, etc.," p. 146. 



69 Perhaps best translated, " barren," or " sterile." 



''^ A. Wegener, " Meteorol. Terminbeob. am Danmarks-Haven," pp. 328, 

 332-334- 



''^ E. Vincent, " Sur la marche des minima barometriques dans la region 

 polaire arctique, du mois de septembre 1882 au mois d'aoijt 1883," Mem. de 

 I'acad. Roy. de Belgique, 1910. 



