the central polar or arctic basin they occur most frequently in 

 the late summer and autumn. Ceilings less than 3,000 feet may be 

 expected on 20 days a month in the Kara Sea region from August 

 through October, and on about 15 days a month in early summer 

 and late autumn. The best season is late winter and early spring, 

 with approximately 10 days a month having low ceilings. In the 

 Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi Sea areas the number of days 

 with low ceilings will average about 5 less each season than over 

 the Kara Sea area. The conditions over the Barents Sea are sim- 

 ilar to those over the Kara Sea. Data for the American portion 

 of the Arctic are not available. Conditions over the northern 

 Alaskan coast and near the mouth of the Mackenzie River should 

 be similar to conditions along the Siberian coast from the mouth 

 of the Lena River eastward. 



Slightly different conditions are shown by taking the occurrences 

 of very low ceilings (less than 600 feet) . The poorest conditions 

 in midwinter and early spring are to be found in the Kara Sea 

 region, but in late spring the area of most frequent very low ceil- 

 ings shifts to the extreme northeast of Siberia. Uelen shows the 

 poorest conditions in April, while in May the poor conditions ex- 

 tend from Wrangel Island to Cape Navarin. July and August are 

 the poorest months of the region as a whole, taking into account 

 the occurrence of ceilings less than 600 feet. In July the record at 

 Cape Navarin shows more than 15 days with ceilings less than 600 

 feet. In the interior, the occurrence of low ceilings is not an 

 important factor. 



TEMPERATURE 



The most common misconceptions of the Arctic are that the 

 land areas are covered with eternal ice and snow; that there is 

 everlasting winter with intense cold ; and that with the everlasting- 

 ness of winter there is an absence of summer and lack of vegeta- 

 tion. Greenland is a striking example of an ice-covered land pos- 

 sessing these qualities and from it the rest of the north has been 

 pictured by analogy. The high elevation of Greenland and the 

 rather heavy precipitation it receives are two factors which highly 

 favor glaciation. In general, however, other arctic lands possess 

 neither of these characteristics. Over a large portion of the Arctic 

 the scanty snows melt rapidly with the approach of summer. 

 Otherwise, glaciers would soon form. Most of what little snow 

 does fall is soon swept by the wind into gullies and into the lee of 



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