SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 5 



Greenland, are: Steenstriip in 1883 (for a number of years) ; Hel- 

 land, Norwegian geologist, in 1S72-187(); Rabot and Fries in 1875; 

 Hammer in 1879-80; Ryder in 1886-87; Astrup in 1893; von 

 Drygalski in 1891-1893 ; Engell in 1902 ; Porsild in 1918 ; and L. Koch 

 over a period of recent years. The results of the labors of the fore- 

 going men, especially Steenstrup, Drygalski, and L. Koch, have per- 

 mitted us in this paper to name the glaciers which are iceberg- 

 producing and estimate the relative numbers which are normally 

 released every year. Our knowledge of the shape and thickness of 

 the ice cap is furnished by several crossings of the great inland ice, 

 first by Nansen in 1888, and then by DeQuervain in 1912 ; Rasmussen 

 in 1912 : J. P. Koch and Wegener in 1913 : and more recently by Lauge 

 Koch. Several others have also made important incursions, for in- 

 stance, Jensen in 1878, Nordenskiold in 1883, Garde in 1893, Mik- 

 kelsen in 1910, and lately Hobbs and Wegener. The only other 

 trlaciated area in the northwest sufficient in size to contribute any 

 considerable supply of icebergs is Ellesmere Land, the inland ice 

 of which has been explored bv Greely in 1883; bv Sverdrup in 

 I 1902-1904; and by MacMillan in 1914. 



j As a by-product of early exploration, whaling, and trading, as 

 ijwe previously described, there has been assembled a great deal of 

 j,;knowledge on the behavior and regional distribution of floating ice 

 lin the western North Atlantic. Later scientific expeditions concen- 

 ijtrating mostly along oceanographical lines have considerably ad- 

 rlvanced our understanding of drifting ice. A large number of accur- 

 jate oceanographic observations regarding the system of circulation 

 hvhich prevails, for example, in the waters of Davis Strait and over 

 |the Grand Bank, means greater enlightenment on the movements of 

 jthe ice. Baffin Bay, due to inaccessibility, has witnessed few sub- 

 surface investigations : Hamberg in the Sofia 1883, Nielsen in the 

 .iTjalfe 1908-9; and a more thorough and systematic oceanographical 

 pjexamination by Riis-Cartensen in the Godfhaah in the summer 

 .of 1928 complete the local list. The account and results of this last 

 , jwork have not yet been published but from the printed data appear- 

 iing in the International Hydrographic Bulletin we have here in- 

 |terpreted some of the indicated movements of the water and the ice. 

 The hvdrographv of Davis Strait is known from the following inves- 

 |tigations : Wandel in the FyUa, 1884, 1886, 1889; Knudsen in the In- 

 : if/olf, 1895 : Nielsen in the fjaJfe, 1908-9 ; Mathews in theScotia, 1913 ; 

 .Hjort in the Michael Sars in 1924; Jensen in the Dana, 1925; Iselin 

 ' jin the Chance, 1926 ; Riis-Cartensen in the Godthaab, 1928 ; Ault in 

 the Carnegie, 1928; and our own voyage in the Marion, 1928. The 

 iresults of the earlier of these expeditions threw little light on the 

 scheme of oceanic circulation there and on the drift of the ice, wdiile 

 Jthe work of the Scotia and of the fJarnegie was only incidental to 

 much larger fields of operations. The most intensive work in Davis 

 Strait has been accomplished by the Tjalfe, Crodthaah, and Marion. 

 As a result of these latter operations we now possess a fairly clear 

 jPicture of the paths that the ice follows from Baffin Bay to New- 

 foundland and also of the approximate rate of its southern dispersal. 

 Various aspects of the ice problem in the North Atlantic south of 

 ' Newfoundland have been the subject of exhaustive investigation by 



