THE ARCTIC AS AN AIR ROUTE OF THE FUTURE 



218 



© Kleinschmidt 

 SPORT IN THE) ARCTIC : ROPING A POLAR BEAR FROM THE SIDE OE A BOAT 



far as temperature is concerned,, would 

 be about the same over the polar ocean in 

 July as they would be in France or Eng- 

 land in late winter or early spring. 



Greenland is peculiar among the polar 

 lands in that its great altitude enables it 

 to store up a large amount of "cold." In 

 a few other northerly islands there are 

 glaciers of moderate size (Franz Josef 

 Island, Spitzbergen, North Devon) and 

 glaciers of intermediate size (as in Elles- 

 mere Island and Heiberg Island), but 

 there are vast areas of polar lowlands 

 where the little snow that falls in winter 

 (commonly much less than the snowfall 

 of Vermont or Scotland) disappears like 

 magic in the early spring, and where the 

 sun beats down for month after month 

 upon a soil clad with vegetation. 



LESS PERMANENT SNOW IN NORTH SIBERIA 

 THAN ON MEXICAN MOUNTAINS 



We can take it for certain that there is 

 far less permanent ice and snow in the 

 lowland of north Siberia than there is in 

 the mountains of Mexico. It is even pos- 

 sible that tropical Africa, with its one or 

 two snow-clad mountains, contains more 

 permanent snow than do all the lowlands 

 of arctic Siberia. 



In arctic Canada we have ice-free low- 

 land everywhere except in the Yukon. 



In Siberia and Canada there is, there- 

 fore, an aggregate area much larger than 

 the whole of the United States where 

 there is no stored-up "cold" to moderate 

 the heat of the arctic daylight, except the 

 slight chill of the frozen subsoil. This is 

 kept from having much effect on the air 

 by the insulation over it of the cloak of 

 vegetation. 



Accordingly, we find that at Fort 

 Yukon, in Alaska, north of the Arctic Cir- 

 cle, the United States Weather Bureau 

 has recorded the temperature of ioo° in 

 the shade. No thoughtful person will, 

 therefore, suppose that transpolar air 

 journeys will in summer be interfered 

 with by low temperatures. Neither will it 

 be uncomfortable because of extreme 

 heat, for that can always be regulated by 

 the airship's rising high enough into a 

 cooler air. 



It is true that parts of the polar regions 

 are given to summer fogs, but fogs lie 

 low over the ocean and presumably the 

 dirigibles and airplanes would navigate 

 in the clear sunlight above them. 



In our consideration of transpolar com- 

 merce we come naturallv to the matter of 



