METEOROLOGY 



same difficulty which the meteorologists of all other Ant- 

 arctic expeditions experienced, viz., that of distinguishing 

 between fresh falling snow and old snow drifted through 

 the air by blizzards. We did our best to make this dis- 

 crimination, but the results can only be set down as 

 empirical and provisional. Our general conclusion is, that 

 at Cape Royds the snowfall from Februaiy 1908 to 

 February 1909 was equal to about 9>^ in. of rain. 



Mackintosh, when on the Southern Supporting-party's 

 expedition, in charge of Joyce, in January 1909, found as 

 the result of excavations made at the old Depot A of the 

 Discovery expedition near Minna Bluff, that the snow- 

 fall there for the past six years had been equal to an 

 annual rainfall of 7>4 in. 



During the whole time of our residence in the Ant- 

 arctic, from February 1908, till the beginning of March 

 1909, no rain whatever fell. The snow usually came with 

 a bhzzard. These blizzards blew from a general southerly 

 direction; at Cape Royds they were mostly from the 

 south-east. It is clear that the snow brought by the 

 blizzards is in part drift snow, in part new falling snow. 

 On several occasions we noticed that, whereas in the 

 earlier part of the blizzard the snow was largely redis- 

 tributed old snow in the form of drift, towards the end of 

 a blizzard fresh new falling snow would be deposited. As, 

 at the time of the blizzard, the wind was travelhng very 

 rapidly from the south at the rate of perhaps sixty to 

 seventy miles an hour, we argued that this new falling 

 snow was probably produced by moisture carried by the 

 upper currents. The temperature of the atmosphere in- 

 variably increased considerably from the beginning of a 

 blizzard towards its end. This rise was very marked, for 

 whereas the initial temperature, at the beginning of a 

 blizzard, would be perhaps minus 30° Fahr., at the end 

 of a blizzard, after a lapse of possibly twenty-four to 



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