46 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
the wind directions to eight points, and to treat calms and winds 
separately. It is not without a feeling of reverence that we regard 
these simple rows of figures, which give us the first glimpse into 
the physics of the mysterious Antarctic area, and not merely into 
its meteorology, for they put us in a position to draw far-reaching 
conclusions, as we hope to show further on. 
It was a circumstance particularly fortunate for the scientific 
observations that the Belgian ship was all but icebound for a whole 
year. The longitudes vary from 87°-95° W., but the latitudes (which is 
most important) varied only from 69° 50' to 71° 30’, so that the 
meteorological observations have almost the same value as if they 
had been taken on land. The mean latitude is 70° 40’: the mean 
temperature of this latitude in the Northern Hemisphere is 14°°2 
according to Spitaler, or (if we take account of the isotherms for 
Greenland, as corrected by Mohn) 13°°6; and is therefore not mate- 
rially discordant from the Belgian station, which is 14°°5. For the 
parallel of 70° 8. Hann has calculated an annual temperature of 23°, 
on the hypothesis of an ocean free from ice; it can therefore be seen 
how the ice modifies the conditions. We can certainly now maintain 
that the favourable thermal conditions of the Southern Hemisphere, 
which are clearly manifested between lat. 50° and 55°, thanks to the 
extension of open sea, are again lost as we approach the pole. This 
comes out even more clearly if we compare the two hemispheres. 
The parallel of 70° N. runs over vast continents, while the Belgian 
station lay over the open sea, 
By using Spitaler’s Tables we can calculate the mean temperature 
of 70° N. and thus obtain: 
Coldest W. t 
Year. Month. | Month. 
° ° ° 
Atlantic and Asiatic Arctic sea, 
4 200 We 27OCC His sks wes ae 28°4 14:9 43°5 
70° N. |) american Arctic sea, 160°E.-55°W.| 8-8 — 22-0 41-0 
Entire Arcticsea .. 2. wwe. 18°1 — 4:2 42°3 
70° 8. 87°-95° W. a ee es 14°7 — 10:3 30°2 
The difference between the Arctic and the Antarctic climates is 
very striking, and its explanation is to be found in the system of the 
Antarctic winds. The Belgian station lay in winter in the region of 
Westerly winds, in summer in that of Easterly, and this change had 
such a decidedly Monsoonal character that we may fairly suppose 
that the weather phenomena of the year of observation exhibit the 
