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XX1 . 31Emery V/atkee sa
Voyagers See also:round the See also:Horn frequently met with contrary winds and were driven southward into snowy skies and See also:ice-encumbered seas; but so far as can be ascertained none of them before 1770 reached the See also:Antarctic circle, or knew it, if they did. The See also:story of the See also:discovery of See also:land in 64° S. by See also:Dirk Gerritsz on See also:board the " Blijde Boodschap " in 1599 has recently been shown to be the result of the See also:mistake of a commentator, Kasper Barlaeus, in 1622. Much controversy has arisen as to whether See also:South See also:Georgia was sighted in 1675 by La See also:Roche, but the point is of no importance in the development of the See also:history of exploration. It may
II
safely be said that all the navigators who See also:fell in with the See also:southern ice up to 1750 did so by being driven off their course and not of set purpose. An exception may perhaps be made in favour of See also:Halley's voyage in H.M.S. " Paramour " for magnetic investigations in the South See also:Atlantic when he met the ice in 52° S. in See also:January 1700; but that See also:latitude was his farthest south. A determined effort on the See also:part of the See also:French See also:naval officer See also:Pierre See also:Bouvet to discover the South Land described by a See also:half legendary sieur de Gonneville resulted only in the discovery of Bouvet See also:Island in J4° 10' S., and in the See also:navigation of 48 degrees of See also:longitude of ice-cumbered See also:sea nearly in 55° S. in 1939. In 1771 Yves See also:Joseph Kerguelen sailed from See also:France with instructions to proceed south from See also:Mauritius in See also:search of " a very large See also:continent." He lighted upon a land in 5o° S. which he called South France, and believed to be the central See also:mass of the southern continent. He was sent out again to See also:complete the exploration of the new land, and found it to be only an inhospitable island which he re-named in disgust the Isle of Desolation, but in which posterity has recognized his courageous efforts by naming it Kerguelen Land. The obsession of the undiscovered continent culminated in the See also:brain of See also: Sailing in 1772 with the " See also:Resolution," a See also:vessel of 462 tons
under his own command and the " See also:Adventure " of 336 tons under
/See also:amen cook. Captain Tobias See also:Furneaux, Cook first searched in vain
for Bouvet Island, then sailed for 20 degrees of
longitude to the westward in latitude 58° S., and then 3o° See also:east-
See also: Soon after Cook's return sealers set out on voyages to South Georgia both from See also:England and America, but no clear accounts
of the southern limits of their voyages before the sealers'
See also:year 1819 can now be obtained. In See also:February of that voyages. year See also: Being stopped by ice, Bellingshausen turned northward and then continued to the east well to the south of Cook's track, getting south again as the ice permitted and reaching 69° 6' S. in 18° E. On this occasion he was able to See also:sail for three degrees of longtitude within the circle before being forced north of it by a See also:succession of heavy See also:gales. He still kept eastward south of 65° S. and crossed the circle once more in 41° E., where the number of birds seen suggested the proximity of land, and in fact Enderby Land was not very far off, though out of sight. A See also:storm of unexampled violence drove the ships northward, but they still held to the east south of 6o° S. as far as 87° E., having followed the edge of the ice through those meridians south of Kerguelen Land where Cook had made a great detour to the north. Bellingshausen now made for See also:Sydney to rest and refit, arriving there on the 29th of March 1820, after 131 days under sail from his last See also:port. At Sydney Bellingshausen heard of the discovery of the South Shetlands, and leaving See also:early in November reached the sixtieth parallel a See also:month later in longis tude 143° W., and sailing eastward kept south of that parallel through 145 degrees of longitude during sixty-five days, never out of sight of the ice, keeping See also:close along the pack edge through the great See also:gap left by Cook south of New Zealand. He managed to See also:cross the circle three times more, in 164° 3o' W., in 12o° W. and in 92° 10' W., where he reached 69° 52' S., the culminating point of the voyage. As the cruise was supplementary to Cook's, no See also:attempt was made to get south of the meridian where that great navigator made his highest latitude. On the 22nd of January 1821, the See also:day after reaching his highest latitude, Bellingshausen sighted the first land ever seen within the Antarctic Circle, the little island named after See also:Peter I. A See also:week later another and larger land, named after Alexander I., was seen at a distance of 40 M. and sketches made of its bold outline in which the See also:black See also:rock stood out in contrast to the See also:snow. Bellingshausen then made for the South Shetlands, where he stand, Biscoe brought the " See also:Tula " into See also:Hobart Town, See also:Tasmania, met the American sealers, and thence returned to Russia. The voyage was a worthy See also:pendant to that of Cook; it was carried out with a faithful devotion to instructions and consummate See also:seamanship, and as a result it left only half the periphery of the Antarctic Circle within which land could possibly project beyond the Frigid See also:Zone. The next See also:episode in the history of Antarctic exploration was the voyage of James Weddell, a retired master R.N., in 1823.
Weddell.
Weddell was in command of the " Jane," a brig of
16o tons, with the cutter " Beaufoy " of 65 tons in company, and after cruising amo the South Orkneys during January he started for the south exploration, and as he was well equipped with chronometers his positions may be taken as of a far higher degree of accuracy than those of See also:ordinary sealers. On the loth of February he reached the highest latitude yet attained, 74° 15' S. in 34° 17' W., having seen much ice but no impenetrable pack, and at the farthest point the sea was clear and open, but the lateness of the See also:season and the length of the return voyage decided him to go no farther. Weddell made interesting collections of Antarctic animals, including the type specimen of the See also:seal which bears his name, and the See also:book in which he describes his voyage testifies to the keenness of his observations and the soundness of his reasoning. The sea which he penetrated so far to the south he named after the reigning See also: At the beginning of January 1831 Biscoe, who had been See also:hunting vainly for See also:seals on the Sandwich group, started on a voyage easterly to look for new islands, and in trying to get south of 6o° S. he had to coast the impenetrable ice-pack as far as lo° W., and continuing he got within the Antarctic Circle in 1° E. on a track parallel to that of Bellingshausen but farther east. Contrary winds delayed the little vessels, no seal-bearing lands were to be found, but in spite of difficulties, See also:constant danger from fogs and icebergs, and disappointed crews he held on eastward for five See also:weeks far to the south of Cook's track, and, except at one or two points, to the south of Bellingshausen's also. Though his highest latitude was only 69° S. in lo° 43' E. on the 28th of January, he remained south of the Antarctic Circle, or within a few See also:miles of it, for another month, when, in longitude 49° 18' E., he was rewarded by the discovery of land. But just as he was entering on a clear See also:lead of See also:water See also:running straight for a promontory which he named Cape See also:Ann, a terrific storm descended on the vessels, damaged them seriously and drove them helpless before it with the See also:driving ice. A fortnight's struggle with the See also:wind and ice brought Cape Ann into sight again on the 16th of March- but the See also:weather was not to be conquered, the sea was beginning to freeze and half the See also:crew were helpless with the effects of exposure, so Biscoe was compelled to give up the fight and reluctantly let the land—now known as Enderby Land—drop out of sight astern. With only three men able to
and the " Lively," with only the master; one man, and a wounded boy alive, just escaped shipwreck in Port See also: Biscoe returned See also:home after an arduous two months' sealing in the South Shetlands, and the splendid results of his relentless determination as an explorer won for him the See also:gold medals of the See also:young Geographical See also:Societies of London and See also:Paris.
In 1833 another of Enderbys' captains named See also:Kemp reported the discovery of land in 66° S. and 6o° E. about ro° east of Enderby Land. The last of the great voyages of Balleny. exploration due to Enderby Brothers was the cruise
of the " Eliza See also:Scott " under the command of John Balleny, with the cutter " Sabrina " in company. This voyage is interesting because it was the first attempted in high latitudes from east to See also:west, and all those made in the opposite direction had suffered much from the buffetings of See also:head winds. Balleny left See also: See also:Britain: The French were first in the field; an expe-
dition, equipped in the frigates " See also:Astrolabe " and " Zelee " under Jules See also:Dumont D'Urville for ethnographical See also:research in the Pacific . Islands, was instructed to make an attempt to surpass Weddell's latitude in the South Atlantic Ocean, and this D'Urville tried to do with conspicuous See also:ill-success, for he never reached the See also:Ant-See also:arctic Circle though he spent the first two months of 1838 round the edge of the ice-pack south of the South Shetlands and the South Orkneys. Some portions of the land south of the South Shetlands were charted and named See also:Joinville Island and See also: In following Weddell's route Wilkes in March 1839 fared no better than D'Urville in the previous year, but the " Flying See also:Fish " of 96 tons under See also:Lieutenant See also: It seems no more than due to a gallant and much-persecuted officer, who did his best in most difficult circumstances, to leave the name of Wilkes Land on the See also:map of the region he explored.
Unlike the other two expeditions, that equipped by the British See also:government in 1839 was intended solely for Antarctic See also:Ross. exploration and primarily fer magnetic surveys in
the south polar seas. There were two ships, the " See also:Erebus "of 370 tons, and the " Terror " of 340, stoutly built craft specially strengthened for navigation in the ice. Captain James See also:Clark Ross, R.N., was in command of the " Erebus " and of the expedition; Commander See also:Francis Rawdon Moira See also:Crozier of the " Terror." A young surgeon, Joseph See also:Dalton See also: In November 1841 the " Erebus " and " Terror " returned to Antarctic See also:waters, steering south-east from New Zealand and entering the ice-pack in about 6o° S. and 146° W., the See also:idea being to approach the great barrier from the eastward, but by the end of the year they had just struggled as far as the Antarctic Circle and they, together with the pack, were several times driven far to the northward by heavy gales in which the ships were at the See also:mercy of the floating ice. During a storm of terrible severity on the 18th of January the rudders of. both ships were smashed, and not until the 1st of February did they break out of the pack in 67° 29' S., 159° W. The barrier was sighted on the 22nd and the ships reached 78° 10' S. in 161° 27' W., the highest latitude attained for 6o years. To the eastward the barrier See also:surface rose to a mountainous height, but although Ross believed it to be land, he would only treat it officially as " an appearance of land," leaving the See also:confirmation of its discovery as King Edward Land to the next century. No more work was done in this See also:quarter; the " Erebus " and " Terror " turned the edge of the pack to the northward and on getting into clear water sailed eastward to Cape Horn, See also:meeting the greatest danger of the whole cruise on the way by colliding with each other at See also:night while passing between two icebergs in a gale. After wintering in the See also:Falkland Islands and making good the damage received, Ross made his third and last attack on the southern ice, and for six weeks he cruised amongst the pack off Joinville Island and Louis Philippe Land trying in vain to reach the Antarctic Circle. Failing in this attempt he turned to follow Weddell's route and skirted the pack eastward in 65° S., See also:crossing Weddell's track on the 14th of February 1843, more than a degree farther south than D'Urville in his attempt four years before, but on the edge of an equally impenetrable pack. See also:Coasting it eastward to 12° W. the " Erebus " and " Terror " at last rounded the pack and found the way open to the south, crossing the circle on the 1st of March. Four days later the pack was met with again and the ships were forced into it for 27 miles to latitude 71° 30' S. in 14° 51' W., nineteen degrees east of Weddell's farthest south. No sign of land was seen, a deep-sea See also:sounding showed 4000 fathoms with no bottom, and although this was a mistake, for the real See also:depth was later proved by Dr See also:Bruce to be only 266o fathoms, it showed at least that there was no land in the immediate neighbourhood. This was Ross's last piece of Antarctic work, but the magnetic observations of his expedition were continued by Lieut. T. E. L. See also:Moore, R.N., in the hired barque " See also:Pagoda," which left See also:Simon's Bay in January 1845 and proceeded south-east, crossing the Antarctic Circle in 30 45' E. and reaching a farthest south of 67° 5o', nine degrees farther east. An attempt to reach Enderby Land was frustrated by the weather, and Moore continued his
voyage to See also:Australia in a high latitude beating against contrary gales, a See also:condition to which all previous experience pointed as likely to occur.
No further attempt at South Polar exploration was made for
nearly See also:thirty years, except a See also:short cruise by Mr Tapsell in the
" Brisk," one of Enderby's ships which in February
"Challen-
ger." 1850, after passing the Balleny Islands, proceeded
eastward to 143° E. at a higher latitude than Wilkes without sighting land. The first steamer to cross the Antarctic Circle was H.M.S. " Challenger," on the 16th of February 1874; she only penetrated to 66° 4o' S., in 78° 30' E., south of Kerguelen Land; but she continued her course to Australia for some distance in a high latitude, passing within 15 M. of the position assigned to Wilkes's Termination Land without seeing any sign of land. Her dredgings and soundings yielded See also:evidence as to the nature of the unknown region farther south. See also:Sir John See also: During the southern summer in which the " Challenger " visited Antarctic waters, a See also:German See also:whale-See also:ship, the " GrSnland," Dallmann. under Captain Dallmann, visited the western coast of the Antarctic land south of Tierra del Fuego, and modified the See also:chart in several particulars. The chief discovery was a channel, named See also:Bismarck Strait, in 65° S., which seemed to run between Palmer Land and Graham Land. When the See also:International Circumpolar observations were .set on See also:foot in 1882, two scientific stations' were maintained for a year in the southern hemisphere in order to obtain data for comparison with the observations at twelve stations round the North Pole. One of these was occupied by French observers in Tierra del Fuego in 55° S., the other by German observers at Royal Bay on South Georgia in J4° 30' S. The magnetic and meteorological observations were of considerable importance. In 1892 four steamers of the See also:Dundee whaling See also:fleet—the " Balaena," " Active," " See also:Diana " and " Polar See also:Star "—went out to test Ross's statement that the " right whale " inhabited Antarctic waters. The surgeons of two of the vessels—on the " Balaena " Dr W. S. Bruce, on the "Active" Dr C. W. Donald —were selected for their scientific tastes, and equipped with all requisite See also:instruments for observations and collecting. The result of the experiment was disappointing. No whales were obtained, and the ships devoted their See also:attention to sealing on the east of Joinville Island and Louis Philippe Land, not going farther south than 65° S. (Geographical See also:Journal, 1896, vii. 502-521, 625-643). A See also:Norwegian sealer, the " See also:Jason," Captain Larsen, also visited those seas in the same season, but the captain landed and collected fossils at several points north of 65° S. In 1893–1894 the " Jason," accompanied by two other Norwegian vessels,the " See also:Hertha" and the " See also:Castor," returned to the Antarctic and entered the ice-laden waters in November at the very begin- ning of summer. Captain Larsen in the " Jason " made his way as far south as 68° to' in 6o° W. on the eastern side of Graham Land, but several miles from the coast, which was bordered by a high ice-barrier. The land beyond this barrier was named Foyn Land, after a famous Norwegian whaleship owner. Returning northwards, two small islands, Lindenberg and Christensen, were discovered and found to be active volcanoes. Meanwhile the " Hertha," Captain Evensen, had reached the South Shetlands on the 1st of November 1893, and worked her way southward along the west side of Palmer Land and past the Biscoe Islands, reaching the Antarctic Circle on the 9th of November without meeting ice. This was the first time the Antarctic Circle had been crossed since the " Challenger " did so twenty years before. Captain Evensen sighted Alexander Land, and without experiencing any trouble from ice-floes he reached his farthest south, 69° to' S. in 76° 12' W. (Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft, See also:Hamburg, 1895, pp. 245–304). In 1894 the well-known Norwegian whaler, Svend Foyn, sent out one of his vessels, the " Antarctic, " Captain Christensen. to try his See also:luck off the coast of Victoria Land. The Borth re " Antarctic " sailed from Melbourne in See also:September, vtnk~ 894. having on board See also:Carstens Egeberg Borchgrevink, a young Norwegian See also:resident in Australia, who, being determined to take part in a voyage he could join in no other way, shipped as an ordinary See also:seaman. He made notes of the voyage, and published an account of it on his return to See also:Europe (See also:Report of See also:Sixth Inter-See also:national Geographical Congress, London, 1895, pp. 169–175). The " Antarctic " entered the pack in 62° 45' S., 171° 30' E., on the 8th of December 1894. The Balleny Islands were sighted on the 14th of December, and Cape Adare on Victoria Land two days later. On the 22nd of January 1895 the farthest point was reached at Coulman Island in 74° S.; the sea was then easily navigable to the south. On the 23rd of January a small party, including the captain and Mr Borchgrevink, landed on the mainland near Cape Adare, the first See also:people to set foot on the Antarctic continent. Efforts had been made from time to time, by See also:Professor Georg von Neumayer in See also:Germany and by Sir John Murray and others in Great Britain, to induce learned societies to in- See also:Gerlache; augurate a new era of scientific Antarctic research „Beig.jea,., under Government or at least under national auspices. In 1895 Sir Clements See also:Markham, as See also:president of the Royal Geographical Society and of the International Geographical Congress, also took the See also:matter up, and interest in the Antarctic regions began to be aroused in every civilized See also:country. Captain Adrien de Gerlache organized and led a Belgian expedition, for which he raised the funds with difficulty. M. Georges Lecointe, captain of the "Belgica," and Lieut. Danco, magnetic observer, were Belgians; Mr Roald Amundsen, the See also:mate, a Norwegian; M. Arctowski, the geologist and physicist, a Pole; M. Racovitza, the biologist, a Rumanian; and Dr F. A. Cook, the surgeon, an American. On the 14th of January 1898, already long past See also:mid-summer, the " Belgica,” left Staten Island for Antarctic waters. She sighted the South Shetlands on the 21st and proceeded to See also:Hughes Gulf, from which a channel, Gerlache Strait, was explored leading south-westward between continuous land, named Danco Land, on the east (the northern See also:extension of Graham Land), and Palmer Land on the west. Palmer Land was found to be a group of large islands. On the 12th of February the " Belgica " re-entered the open sea to the west at Cape Tuxen in 65° 15' S. Much See also:fog was experienced, but on the 16th Alexander Land was sighted in the distance. Continuing on a See also:westerly course, the "Belgica " made every effort to enter the pack, which was successfully accomplished after a heavy storm on the 28th. By taking See also:advantage of the leads, the expedition advanced to 71° 30' S. in -85° 15' W. by the 2nd of March, but the ship was blocked next day by the growth of young ice soldering the pack into one continuous mass. For more than a year further See also:independent See also:movement was impossible; but the ship drifted with the ice between the limits of 8o° 3o' W. and 102° to' W., and of 69° 4o' and 71° 35' S., which was the highest latitude attained (May 31, 1898). The See also:sun did not rise for seventy days, and all on board suffered severely from depression of See also:spirits and disorders of the circulation, which Dr Cook attributed to the darkness and to improper See also:food. Lieut. Danco died during the See also:period of darkness. On the 13th of March 1899, when a second winter in the ice began to seem probable, the " Belgica " was released in 69° 5o' S. and toe to' W. The geographical results of this expedition were insignificant so far as the discovery of land or penetration to a high latitude is concerned. The ship passed several times to the south and west of Peter I. Island, proving that the land seen by Bellingshausen at that Larsen. point is of very limited extent. During the See also:drift in the ice the soundings were usually between 200 and 300 fathoms, which, compared with the great depths to the north, clearly indicated a See also:continental shelf of considerable breadth, probably connected with land in the south. The scientific collections were of unique value and have been worked up and the results published at the expense of the Belgian government. The Hamburg America Company's steamer " See also:Valdivia," chartered by the German Government for a scientific voyage "Valdivia.,,under the leadership of Professor Carl Chun of Leip- zig, with Dr See also:Gerhard Schott as oceanographer,,left Cape Town on the 13th of November 1898, and on the 25th was fortunate in rediscovering Bouvet Island (54° 26' S., 3° 24' E.), which had been searched for in vain by Cook, Ross, Moore and many other sailors. Steering south, the " Valdivia," although an unprotected See also:steel vessel, followed the edge of the pack from 8° E. to 58° E., reaching 64° 15' S. in 540 20' E. on the 16th of December. At this point a depth of 2541 fathoms was found, so that if Enderby Land occupies its assigned position, 102 nautical miles farther south, the sub-oceanic slope must be of quite unusual steepness. The rocks dredged up contained specimens of See also:gneiss, See also:granite and schist, and one great See also:block of red sandstone weighing 5 cwt. was secured, confirming the theory of the continental nature of the land to the south. On his return to England in 1895 Mr Borchgrevink made strenuous efforts to organize an Antarctic expedition under his own leadership, and in August 1898 he left the Bk6,8. See also:Thames on the " Southern Cross, in See also:charge of a private expedition equipped by Sir George Newnes. His scientific See also:staff included Lieut. Colbeck, R.N.R.; Mr Louis Bernacchi, a trained magnetic observer, and Mr N. See also:Hanson, biologist. About fifty See also:dogs were taken out, the intention being to land at Cape Adare and advance towards the magnetic, and perhaps also towards the geographical pole by sledge. The " Southern Cross " sighted one of the Balleny Islands on the 14th of January 1899, and after in vain attempting to get south about the meridian of 164° E., the ship forced her way eastward and emerged from the pack (after having been beset for See also:forty-eight days) in 700 S., 174° E. She reached Cape Adare, and anchored in See also:Robertson Bay on the 17th of February. The land party, consisting of ten men, was established in a See also:house built on the See also:strip of See also:beach at the base of the steep ascent to the mountains, and the ship left on the 2nd of March. Mr Borchgrevink found it impossible to make any land See also:journey of importance and the party spent the first year ever passed by man on Antarctic land in making natural history collections and keeping up meteorological and magnetic observations. The" Southern Cross "returned to Cape Adare on the 28th of January 190o, and after taking the winter party on board—diminished by the See also:death of Mr Hanson—set out for the south on the 2nd of February. Landings were made on several islands, on the mainland at the base of Mt Melbourne, and on the loth of February at the base of Mt Terror, near Cape Crozier. From this point the ship steamed eastward along the great ice-barrier to a point in 164° to' W., where an inlet in the ice was found and the ship reached her highest latitude, 78° 34' S., on the 17th of February. The edge of the ice was found to be about 30 m.. farther south than it had been when Ross visited it in 1842. Mr Borchgrevink was able to land on the ice with sledges and dogs, and advanced southward about 16 m., reaching 78° 5o' S. He discovered that plant See also:life existed in the shape of mosses and See also:lichens in some of the rocky islands, a fact not previously known. In the autumn of 1901 three well-equipped expeditions left Europe for Antarctic exploration. The British National Ant-arctic expedition was organized by a See also:joint See also:committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society, and equipped under the superintendence of Sir Clements Markham. Most of the cost was See also:borne by the government, the rest mainly by Mr L. W. Longstaff, who pravided f 3o,000, the Royal Geographical Society, and Mr A. C. Harmsworth (afterwards See also:Lord Northcliffe). A strong wooden ship of about 700 tons See also:register (1700 tons displacement) was built at Dundee, and named the " Discovery." She was made entirely non-magnetic amidships, so that magnetic observations might be carried on without interference from See also:local attraction. The expedition sailed under, Vlacove the command of Commander R. F. Scott, R.N., with Lieut. See also:Albert Armitage, R.N.R., as second in command, Lieuts. Royds and Barne, R.N., Lieut. Shackleton, R.N.R., and Engineer-Lieut. See also:Skelton, R.N. The crew of forty men were almost entirely sailors of the Royal Navy. The scientific staff included Dr Koettlitz, who had shared with Mr Armitage in the See also:Jackson-Harmsworth arctic expedition; Mr Louis Bernacchi, who had wintered with Mr Borchgrevink at Cape Adare; Dr E. A. See also: Although some symptoms of See also:scurvy appeared during the winter they were checked by See also:change of See also:diet, and with the beginning of See also:spring sledge journeys with dogs were commenced and a quantity of provisions. was laid down in depots to assist the great journey which Scott had planned to the south. On the 2nd of November 1902 Captain Scott, with Lieut. E. H. Shackleton and Dr E. A. Wilson, set out with See also:dog-sledges travel-See also:ling south over the surface of the barrier in sight of a range of new mountains running parallel to their track on the west. The conditions of travelling were unlike those in the Arctic region, the weather being more inclement and the summer temperature much See also:lower than in similar latitudes in the north. There were no bears to menace the safety of the travellers, and no wolves or foxes to See also:plunder the depots; but on the other See also:hand there was no See also:game of any sort to be met with, and all food for men and dogs had to be carried on the sledges. The surface of the ice was often rough and much crevassed, especially near the western land, snow blizzards frequently occurred making travelling impossible and the heavy sledges had at first to be brought forward by relays, making it necessary to march three miles for every mile of southing made. The dogs also weakened and had to be killed one by one to feed the rest. On the 3oth of December they were in 82° 17' S. and Scott determined to try to reach the mountains to the west; but on approaching the land he found the ice so much crevassed and disturbed that the attempt had to be given up. Great peaks in 83° S. were named Mt Markham (15,100 ft.) and Mt Longstaff (9700 ft.) after the chief promoters of the expedition. The outward journey of 38o m. had taken 59 days, and was a splendid achievement, for the conditions to be encountered were totally unknown, and new methods had to be devised as the See also:necessity arose, yet no previous polar explorer had ever advanced so far beyond his predecessor as Scott did. The return journey occupied 34 days and the ship was reached on the 3rd of February 1903, but Shackleton had broken down on the way and he had to return by the See also:relief ship " See also:Morning " on the 3rd of March, Lieut. See also:Mulock, R.N., taking his place on the " Discovery." During the See also:absence of the commander in the great southern journey Armitage and Skelton had found a way to ascend by a See also:glacier in 78° S. to the See also:summit of the vast snow-covered See also:plateau beyond the granite summits of the western mountains. They reached a distance of 130 M. from the ship and an See also:elevation of 9000 ft. Many shorter journeys were made; Ferrar studied the See also:geology of the mountains and Hodgson was indefatigable in collecting marine See also:fauna, while Bernacchi kept up the physical and meteorological observations. The second winter was lightened by the use of See also:acetylene See also:gas for the first time, and the dark months were passed in better spirits and better health than in the See also:case of any previous polar wintering. In the spring of 1903—1904 Scott undertook a great journey on the western plateau, starting on the 26th of October without dogs. By the 3oth of November he had reached a point on the featureless plateau of dead-level snow, 300 M. due west from the ship, the position being 770 59' S., 146° 33' E. and 9000 ft. above sea-level. The ship was reached again on the 25th of December, and on the 5th of January the " Morning " arrived accompanied by a larger vessel, the " Terra Nova," sent out by the Admiralty with orders to Captain Scott to abandon the " Discovery " and return at once. Fortunately, although all the stores and collections had been transferred to the relief ships, the " Discovery " See also:broke out of the ice on the 16th of February 1904 and Captain Scott had the See also:satisfaction of bringing her home in perfect order. The relief ships had provided so little See also:coal that a most promising voyage to the westward of the Balleny Islands had to be abandoned in 155° E.; but it showed that the land charted by Wilkes east of that meridian did not exist in the latitude assigned. Simultaneously with the " Discovery " expedition and in full co-operation with it as regards simultaneous meteorological and Drygaiskt; magnetic observations, the German government "See also:Gauss." equipped an expedition in the " Gauss " which was specially built for the occasion. The expedition was under the charge of Professor Erich von Drygalski and the scientific staff included Professor Vanhoffen as naturalist, Dr Emil See also:Philippi as geologist and Dr See also:Friedrich Bidlingmaier as meteorologist and magnetician. The ship was under the command of Captain Hans Ruser of the Hamburg-American line. A supplementary expedition set up a station for simultaneous observations on Kerguelen Land. The " Gauss " crossed the parallel of 6o° S. in 92° E. early in February 1902 and got within 6o m. of the charted position of Wilkes's Termination Land, where a depth of 1730 fathoms was found with no sign of land. The pack made it necessary to turn south-westward and land was seen to the east-ward on February 1902 on the Antarctic Circle in the direction of Termination Land. Soon afterwards the " Gauss " was beset and spent the winter in the ice. Land of considerable extent was seen to the south and was named Kaiser Wilhelm II. Land; the most conspicuous feature on it was a See also: Two private expeditions organized by men of See also:science were in the Antarctic region simultaneously with the British and Noidensk- German national expeditions, and the synchronous /Old. meteorological and magnetic observations added to the value of the scientific results of all the parties. Dr. See also:Otto Nordenskjold, See also:nephew of the discoverer of the North-East Passage, led a See also:Swedish party in the " Antarctic," with Captain C. A. Larsen in command of the ship, and reached the South Shetlands in January 1902, afterwards exploring on the east side of Joinville Island and Louis Philippe Land, and wintering on shore on Snow Hill Island in 64° 25' S. From this point a long journey on See also:ski over the See also:flat sea ice bordering King Oscar Land was made to the south, but the Antarctic Circle was not reached. Meanwhile the " Ant-arctic " had succeeded in penetrating the pack in the Weddell Sea almost to the circle in 5o° W., where D'Urville and Ross had failed to get so far south. A second winter was spent at the base on Snow Hill Island, and, the ship having beenlost in the ice on her way to take them off, the party was rescued by a brilliant dash of the See also:Argentine gunboat " See also:Uruguay," under Captain Irizar, before the relief ship sent from See also:Sweden arrived.
Meanwhile Dr W. S. Bruce, largely aided financially by Mr James Coats and Captain See also:Andrew Coats, equipped a Scottish expedition in the " See also:Scotia," with Captain Erace See also: Mossman as meteorologist, Mr R. N. Rudmose See also: The " Scotia " crossed the Antarctic Circle northward in 11° W., having in the two years explored a totally unknown sea for a distance of thirty degrees of longitude. A meteorological station was established by Mr Mossman on Laurie Island, in the South Orkneys (61° S.) in March 1903, and kept up by him for two years, when it was taken over by the Argentine government, and it now has the distinction of being the most southerly station at which continuous observations have ever been taken for over five years. In January 1904 Dr See also:Jean B. See also:Charcot, a man of science and an accomplished yachtsman, left the Fuegian archipelago for the Antarctic in the "See also:Francais," in command of a Charcot. French exploring expedition equipped at his own instance. He cruised through the islands of the Palmer Archipelago, and wintered in a See also:cove of Wandel Island 65 5' S. near the southern entrance of Gerlache Strait. On the 25th of December 1904 the " Fran9ais " was See also:free, and continued to cruise southward along the coast of Graham Land, to the south of which, on the 15th of January, when nearly in latitude 67°, a new coast appeared, mountainous and stretching to the south-west, but Charcot could not determine whether it was joined to Graham Land or to Alexander Land. While approaching the land the " Fran9ais " struck a rock, and was so much damaged that further exploration was impossible, and after naming the new discovery See also:Loubet Land, the expedition returned. Charcot organized a second expedition in 1908 on board the " Pourquoi Pas?" and, leaving Punta Arenas in December, returned to the Palmer Archipelago, and during January 1909 made a detailed examination of the coast to the southward, finding that Loubet Land was practically continuous on the north with Graham Land and on the south with Alexander Land, which was approached within a mile at one point. Adelaide Island, reported by Biscoe as 8 m. long, was found to be a large island 7o M. in length, consisting of a See also:series of summits rising out of an icefield. The Biscoe Islands were found to be much more numerous than was formerly supposed. The expedition wintered at See also:Petermann Island in 65° 1o' S., and attempts were made to reach the interior of Graham Land, though with little success. After coaling from the whalers' See also:depot at Deception Island, the 'Q Pourquoi Pas ? " sailed on the 6th of January 1910 to the south-west, and reached 7o° S. on the iith, whence views of Alexander Land were obtained from a new position, and a new land discovered farther to the south-west. The highest latitude reached was about 70° 30' S., and Charcot was able to See also:steam westward nearly along this parallel crossing the region of the " Belgica's " drift, passing close to Peter I. Island across the meridian of Cook's highest latitude, where the ice seemed to promise an easy way south if coal had permitted, and on to 128° W. through an absolutely unknown sea, from which point a See also:direct course was made for Punta Arenas. Frequent soundings and dredgings were made, and Dr Charcot satisfied himself from all the appearances that along the 20 degrees of longitude west of Gerlache's farthest, and more than half-way from Graham Land to King Edward Land, land was probably not far distant to the south. After his return invalided from the " Discovery," Lieut. Shackleton planned a fresh expedition, which he equipped at Shackleton. his own expense, aided by his See also:personal See also:friends, and he started in the small whaler " See also:Nimrod " from See also:Lyttelton, New Zealand, on the 1st of January 1908, being towed by a steamer to the Antarctic Circle, in order to See also:save coal. The See also:plan was to land a shore party on King Edward Land and return to take them off in the following year, but although a strenuous effort was made to reach the land the See also:floe ice was too heavy, and it would have been madness to establish winter-quarters on the barrier, the coast-line of which had altered greatly since 1902, and was obviously liable to break off in great ice-islands. On the 26th of January the " Nimrod " began to return from the extreme east of the barrier, and the landing of stores commenced on the 3rd of February at Cape Royds, at the base of Mt Erebus, 20 M. north of the " Discovery's " winter-quarters. The shore party included the See also:leader and fifteen companions, amongst them Professor T. W. See also:Edgeworth See also:David, of Sydney University; Lieut. See also:Jameson See also:Boyd See also: The second achievement was the attainment of the South Magnetic Pole by Professor David, with Mr Douglas Mawson and Dr Mackay. They left winter-quarters on the 6th of October1908, dragging two sledges over the sea-ice. Proceeding along the coast they were able to supplement their provisions and See also:fuel by seal-See also:meat and blubber, and on the 1st of December they reached the Drygalski ice barrier in 75° S., which proved very difficult to cross. Leaving this ice-See also:tongue on the 19th, they proceeded to ascend the plateau with one sledge, and ran great risks from the crevasses into which they were constantly falling. On reaching the summit of the plateau travelling became easier, and on the 16th of January 1909 the magnetic See also:dip was 90°, and the position of the magnetic pole was deter-mined as 72° 25' S., 155° 16' E., at an altitude of 7260 ft. and 26o m. from the depot of provisions left at the Drygalski glacier. The return journey to this point was accomplished by forced See also:marches on the 3rd of February, and next day the party was picked up by the " Nimrod," which was scouting for them along the coast. The third and greatest achievement of this remarkable expedition was Shackleton's great southern journey. Dep6ts had been laid out in advance on the barrier ice, and the main southern party, consisting of Messrs Shackleton, Adams, Marshall and Wild, started from winter-quarters on the 29th of October 1908, with the four ponies and four 11-ft. sledges; a supporting party of five men accompanied the main See also:division for ten days. In order to avoid the disturbed and crevassed ice near the great south-running mountain range, Shackleton kept about 40 M. farther to the east than Scott had done. The ponies enabled rapid progress to be made, but after passing the 81st parallel on the 21st of November, one See also:pony broke down and had to be shot, the meat being left in a depot for the return journey. In spite of See also:cold weather and frequent high winds, progress was made at the See also:rate of 15 M. per day, and on the 26th of November the farthest south of the " Discovery " expedition was passed, and Mts Markham and Longstaff were full in view. New mountains continued to appear beyond these, and the range changed its southerly to a south-easterly trend, so that the path to the Pole led through the mountains. On the 28th a second pony became used up and was shot, and a depot was formed with provisions and stores for the return in 82° 38' S., and progress was resumed with two sledges. The surface of the barrier ice formed great undulations of See also:gentle slope. On the 1st of December a third pony had to be shot, in 83° 16' S., and horseflesh became the principal See also:article of diet; the remaining pony hauled one sledge, the four men took the other. On the 4th of December the party left the barrier, passing over a zone of much disturbed ice, and commenced the ascent of a great glacier (the Beardmore glacier) which descended from the mountains between magnificent granite cliffs 2000 ft. high. On the 7th, when toiling amongst a maze of crevasses on the glacier, 2000 ft. above sea-level, the last pony fell into a See also:crevasse and was lost, though the loaded sledge was saved; the pony was to have been shot that night as it could not work on the disturbed ice; but its loss meant so much less food, and as far as can be judged this alone made it impossible for the party to reach the Pole. For the next few days of laborious advance one or other of the party was continually falling into a crevasse, but the sledge See also:harness saved them, and no serious harm resulted. After climbing upwards for roo m. on the glacier, a depot was made at a height of 6100 ft. of everything that could possibly be left behind, including all the warm clothing, for it was found possible with Jaegers and wind-proof Burberrys to meet any weather in which exertion was possible. By See also:Christmas Day the plateau surface was fairly reached at a level of 9500 ft., in latitude 85° 55' S., and there was no more difficulty to over-come as regarded the ground, but merely the effort of going on over a nearly level surface with insufficient food in a very low temperature, intensified by frequent blizzards. Rations were reduced in the hope of being able to push on to the Pole, Three days later the last crevasse was passed and the surface, now 12,200 ft. above sea-level, See also:grew smoother, allowing 15 M. a day to be done with See also:fair weather. At 4 a.m. on the 9th of January 1909 the four explorers left their sledge and racing, half walking, half running, they reached 88° 23' S. Geology.—Definite See also:information as to the geology of Antarctic in 162° E. at 9 a.m., the height above sea being rr,600 ft. The utmost had been done, though more food would have enabled the remaining 97 geographical miles to the South Pole to be accomplished. The See also:camp was reached again at 3 p.m. The return journey of over 700 M. to the ship was one long nightmare of toil and suffering, but the length of the marches was unsurpassed in polar travel. Once and again all food was exhausted the day before the depot, on which the only hope of life depended, was picked up in the See also:waste of snow. Snow-See also:blindness and See also:dysentery made life almost unendurable, but, despite it all, the ship was reached on the 1st ' of March, and the See also:geological specimens from the southernmost mountains, which prevented the sledges of the exhausted men being lightened as they went on, were safely secured. Never in the history of polar exploration had any traveller outdistanced his predecessor by so vast a step towards either Pole.
During the return journey of the " Nimrod " Shackleton was able to do a little piece of exploration to the south of the Balleny Islands, tracing the coast of the mainland for 5o M. to the south-west beyond Cape North, thus indicating that the Antarctic continent has not a straight coast-line running from Cape Adare to Wilkes Land. The British government contributed £20,000 to the expenses of the expedition in recognition of the great results obtained, and the king conferred a See also:knighthood on the explorer, the first given for Antarctic exploration since the time of Sir James Clark Ross.
Captain R. F. Scott left England in the summer of 1910 with a new expedition in the " Terra Nova," promoted by his Expeditions own exertions, aided by a government See also: Wilhelm Filchner was announced to leave early in 1911 with the hope of exploring inland from a base in the western part of Weddell Sea, and Dr W. S. Bruce has announced for the same year an expedition to the eastern part of Weddell Sea mainly for oceanographical exploration. It appears that the greatest extension of know-ledge would now be obtained by a resolute attempt to cruise round the south polar area from east to west in the highest latitude which can be reached. This has never been attempted, and a See also:modern Biscoe with steam See also:power could not fail to make important discoveries on a westward circumnavigation. Physiography of Antarctic Region.—In contrast to the Arctic region, the Antarctic is essentially a land area. It is almost certain that the South Pole lies on a great plateau, part of a land that must be larger and loftier than See also:Greenland, and may probably be as large as Australia. This land area may be composed of two main masses, or of one continent and a great archipelago, but it can no longer be doubted that the whole is of continental See also:character as regards its.rocks, and that it is permanently massed into one surface with ice and snow, which in some parts at least unites lands separated by hundreds of miles of sea. But all round the land-mass there is a ring of deep ocean cutting off the Antarctic region from all other land of the See also:earth and setting it apart as a region by itself, more unlike the rest of the See also:world than any continent or island. The expedition of the " Scotia " showed the great depth of the Weddell Sea area, and the attention paid to soundings on other expeditions—notably that of the " Belgica "—has defined the beginning of a continental shelf which it cannot be doubted slopes up to land not yet sighted. In the Arctic region large areas within the Polar Circle belong to climatically temperate Europe, and to habitable lands of See also:Asia and America; but in the Antarctic region extensive lands —Graham Land, Louis Philippe Land, Joinville Island and the Palmer archipelago outside the Polar Circle—partake of the typically polar character of the higher latitudes, and even the islands on the warmer side of the sixtieth parallel are of a sub Antarctic nature, akin rather to lands of the frigid than to those of the temperate zone. land is available from three areas—Graham Land and the archipelago to the north of it, Kaiser Wilhelm Land and Victoria Land. In the Graham Land region there seems to be a fundamental rock closely resembling the Archaean. Palaeozoic rocks have not been discovered so far in this region, although a graptolite fossil, probably of Ordovician See also:age, shows that they occur in the South Orkneys. Mesozoic rocks have been found in various parts of the archipelago, a very See also:rich See also:Jurassic fossil flora of ferns, conifers and cycads having been studied by Nordenskjold, some of the genera found being represented also in the rocks of South America, South See also:Africa, See also:India and Australia. Cretaceous See also:ammonites have also been found, and See also:Tertiary fossils, both of land and of marine forms, bring the geological See also:record down probably to See also:Miocene times, the fauna including five genera of See also:extinct penguins. Raised beaches show an emergence of the land in See also:Quaternary times, and there is evidence of a See also:recent glacial period when the inland ice on Graham Land was a thousand feet higher than it is now. The most prominent features of the scenery are due to eruptive rocks, which have been identified as belonging to the eruptive See also:system of the See also:Andes, suggesting a geologically recent connection between South America and the Antarctic lands. Volcanic activity is not yet extinct in the region. As regards Kaiser Wilhelm Land, the Gaussberg is a volcanic See also:cone mainly composed At See also:leucite-See also:basalt, but its slopes are strewn with erratics presumably transported from the south and these include gneiss, See also:mica-schist and See also:quartzite, apparently Archaean. Much more is known as to the geology of Victoria Land, and the results are well summarized by Professor David and Mr Priestley of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition, whom we follow. From Cape North (71° S.) to 86° S. a See also:grand mountain range runs south curving to south-eastward, where it vanishes into the unknown; it is built up of gneiss and granite, and of See also:horizontal beds of sandstone and See also:limestone capped with eruptive rock, the peaks rising to heights of 8000, xo,000 and even 15,000 feet, the See also:total length of the range so far as known being at least xroo miles. This range rises abruptly from the sea, or from the ice of the Great Barrier, and forms a slightly higher edge to a vast snow plateau which has been traversed for several See also:hundred miles in various directions, and may for aught we know extend farther for a thousand miles or more. The accumulated snows of this plateau See also:discharge by the hugest glaciers in the world down the valleys between the mountains. About 78° S. a group of volcanic islands, of which Ross Island, with the active Mt Erebus is the largest, rise from the sea in front of the range, and at the northern extremity the volcanic peaks of the Balleny Islands match them in height. The See also:composition of the volcanic rocks is similar to that of the volcanic rocks of the southern part of New Zealand. The See also:oldest rocks of Victoria Land are apparently banded gneiss and gneissic granite, which may be taken as Archaean. Older Palaeozoic rocks are represented by greenish See also:grey slates from the sides of the Beardmore glacier and by radiolarian cherts; but the most widespread of the sedimentary rocks occurring in vast beds in the mountain faces is that named by Ferrar the See also:Beacon sandstones, which in the far south Shackleton found to be banded with seams of shale and coal amongst which a fossil occurred which has been identified as coniferous See also:wood and suggests that the place of the formation is Lower Carboniferous or perhaps Upper Devonian. No Mesozoic strata have been discovered, but deposits of See also:peat derived from See also:fungi and See also:moss are now being accumulated in the fresh-water lakes of Ross Island, and raised beaches show a recent change of level. The coast-line appears to be of the Atlantic, not the Pacific type, and may owe its position and trend to a great See also:fault, or series of faults, in the line of which the range of volcanoes, Mt Melbourne, Mt Erebus, and Mt Discovery, stand. Boulders of gneiss, quartzite and sandstone have been dredged at so many points between the Balleny Islands and the Weddell Sea that there can be no doubt of the existence of similar continental land along the whole of that side, at least within the Antarctic Circle. 970 Antarctic Ice-Conditions.-It is difficult to decide whether the ice of the polar regions should be dealt with as a geological formation or a meteorological phenomenon; but in the Antarctic the ice is so characteristic a feature that it may well be considered by itself. So far as can be judged, the total See also:annual precipitation in the Antarctic region is very slight, probably not more than the See also:equivalent of ro in. of See also:rain, and perhaps less. It was formerly supposed that the immense See also:accumulation of snow near the South Pole produced an ice-cap several miles in thickness which, creeping outward all round, terminated in the sea in vast ice-cliffs, such as those of Ross's Great Barrier, whence the huge flat-topped ice-islands broke off and floated away. Evidence, both in the Graham Land and in the Victoria Land areas, points to a former much greater extent of the ice-cap. Thus Shackleton found that the summit of Mt Hope, in 83° 3o' S., which stands 2000 feet above the ice of the surrounding glaciers, was strewn with erratics which must have been transported by ice from the higher mountains to the south and west. In McMurdo Sound, as in Graham Land, evidence was found that the surface of the ice-See also:sheet was once at least a thousand feet above its See also:present level. These facts appear to indicate a period of greater snowfall in the geologically recent past-i.e. a period of more genial See also:climate allowing the See also:air to carry more water vapour to the southern mountains. Whatever may have been the case in the past the Antarctic glaciers are now greatly shrunken and many of them no longer reach the sea. Others project into the sea a tongue of hard ice, which in the case of the Drygalski glacier tongue is 30 M. long, and afloat probably for a considerable distance. Some of these glacier See also:tongues of smaller See also:size appear now to be cut off at their shoreward end from the See also:parent glacier. At one time the Victoria Land glacier tongues may have been confluent, forming a great ice barrier along the coast similar to the small ice-barriers which clothe the lower slopes of some of the islands in Gerlache Strait. The Great Ice Barrier is in many ways different from these. Captain Scott showed that it was afloat for at least 400 M. of its extent from west to east. Sir Ernest Shackleton followed it for 400 m. from north to south, finding its surface in part thrown into long gentle undulations, but with no evidence of the surface being otherwise than level on the See also:average. The all-butforgotten experiments and cogitations of Biscoe convinced that shrewd observer that all Antarctic icebergs were sea-ice thickened with snow " accumulated with time." The recent expeditions seem to confirm this view to a great extent in the case of the Barrier, which, so far as the scientific men on the " Nimrod " could see, was formed everywhere of compressed neve, not of true glacier ice. Instances have been seen of See also:tabular bergs floating with half their bulk above water, showing that theyare of very much less See also:density than solid ice. The thrust of the glaciers which descend from the western mountains upon the Barrier throws it into See also:sharp crevassed folds near the point of contact, the disturbance extending 20 M. from the tip of the Beardmore glacier, and the seaward creep of the whole surface of the Barrier is possibly due to this impulse; the rate of movement at the eastern side of the Barrier was found to be at the rate of 500 yds. per annum for the seven years between Scott's and Shackleton's expeditions. Pack ice composed of broken-up sea-ice and fragments of icebergs appears to See also:form a floating See also:breakwater round the Ant-arctic area, It is penetrated by powerful steamers with ease or with difficulty according to the See also:action of the wind which loosens the pack when it drives it towards the open sea, and closes it up when it drives it against a coast or a barrier of fast ice. At every point but one around the circumpolar area the pack, be it light or dense, appears to extend up to the southern permanent ice or land, though, as in the Weddell Sea, the pack seems at times to be driven bodily away. The exceptional region is the opening of the Ross Sea east of Cape Adare, where a comparatively narrow See also:band of pack ice has always been penetrated by the resolute advance even of sailing ships and led to an extensive open sea to the south. No doubt the set of the ocean currents accounts for this, but how they See also:act is still obscure. The great flat-topped ice-islands which in some years drift out from the Antarctic area in great See also:numbers are usually met with in all parts of the Southern Ocean south of 5o° S., and worn-down icebergs have been sighted in the Atlantic even as far north as 26° 3o' S. The greater frequency of icebergs in the Southern Ocean in some years is attributed to earthquakes in the Antarctic breaking off masses of the floating edge of the Barrier. Antarctic Climate.-Although a vast mass of observations has recently been accumulated, it is not yet possible to treat of the climate of the South Polar region in the same broad way as in the case of the North Polar region. The following table shows the mean temperatures of each month and of the year at all the stations at which the Antarctic winter has been passed. The result is to show that while the winter is on the whole less severe at high latitudes than at equal latitudes in the north, the summer is very much colder, and has little relation to latitude. Even in the South Orkneys, in latitude 6o°, in the three warmest months the air scarcely rises above the freezing point as an average, while in Shetland (6o° N.) the temperature of the three summer months averages 54° F. But on the other hand, the warmest month of the year even in 770 S. has had a mean temperature as high as 3o°. A study of the figures quoted in the accompanying table shows that until longer records See also:Jan. Feb. See also:Mar. . Apr. May . See also:June . See also:July Aug. . Sep. Oct. . Nov. . Dec. . Year . Belgica Cape Adare Snow Hill Gauss Discovery Cape Royds S. Orkneys Wandel Island Peterman Island ca. 70° S. 71 S. 77° 52' S. 55° 10' S. 64° 30' S. 65" 2' S. 77° 32 S. 60° 44' S. 65° S. 1898. 1399. x899. 1900. 1902. 1903. 1902. x903. 1902. x903. 1904. 1908. 1909. 1903. 1904. 1904. 1905. 1908. 1909.. -- +29 .8 +33'0 +30'0 +30.6 +26'1 +22'5 +26'1 (+30'4) +32.3 +32'9 (+34'9) +30'2 (+26'4) +24'4 (+25'9) (+15'9) +x1'2 (+21.5) +20'4 (+30'4) +32'5 +31.2 -- +34'5 + 1 5'6 +17'7 + 14.2 +1x'0 +16.9 + 8•o - 0'8 + 4'9 +30'2) +32'4 +29.8 +33'7 +1 0.8 +x0'3 + 6.3 + 6'7 + 3'9 - 7'1 -16'9 -10'9 +20.6 +25.1 +22.6 +23'0 - +20'3 - 4'6 + 1'7 - 1'6 + 6.8 -12'5 -16.o - 5'5 +17.1 +10.5 +133 +22'7 + 4' -11.8 - 0'4 - 6'8 + 0.5 -16•o -13'8 - 7'1 +9'5 +16.8 +11'8 +20'3 - 10'3 - 8.6 -11'9 - 0.2 - 0.5 -17'0 +16'9 + 7'0 - 2.6 +19'7 +11 '7 -13'4 - 9'7 + 3'8 - 7'4 -16'5 -16'5 -15'7 +18.8 +12.7 +20'5 +21.8 - 1'3 -11'9 + 5'3 + 0.3 + 0'1 -12.0 -18'6 - 5'7 +13'4 +20'5 +25.7 - +21'4 +17.8 - r'8 + 8.9 +29.0 + 8.6 - 8'5 - 6.8 I~ + 4'5 +270 +18'4 +18'7 +27'7 3 +(29'9) +19'6 +17'8 +16'5 +19'9 _ +12.0 +15'4 +17'0 +29'3 +31'1 +31.5 +28'0 +31'8 +28.1 +30'0 +23'1 +25'7 +30'0 +3 1'5 +28.8 +31.2 (+33'9) +14'7 + 7'0 + 9'4 +I1'3 + 0'4 + 3'4 +22.9 +22'4 +22.2 (+26'9) Mar.1 Feb. Mar. 1 Feb. 19 Feb.9 Feb.I Mar. Feb. Dec. 26 to to to to to to to to to Feb. 28 Jan. 31 Feb. 28 Feb. .8 Jan. 31 Jan. 31 Feb. Jan. Nov. 26 become available it is impossible to speak definitely as to the normal See also:distribution of monthly temperature throughout the year, for even at the same station in consecutive years the months vary greatly. Thus at Snow Hill (65° S.) the mean temperature of August 1903 was 13.50 higher than that of August 1902, though June had been 7° colder; and at the "Discovery's" winter quarters July 1903 was 13° colder than July 1902 though June was 2° warmer, August having exactly the same mean temperature in each year. The mean temperature of the year is evidently higher in the position of the " Belgica's " drift than in Victoria Land at the same latitude; but it is noticeable that on the west side of Graham Land, where Charcot wintered, the average mean temperature was (taking the average of his two winterings) 15° higher than on the east side, where Nordenskjold wintered in nearly the same latitude. The observations, however, were not synchronous, and it may not be right to compare them. We may perhaps say that along the whole of the known Antarctic coasts the temperature in the two midsummer months is within a degree or two of 32° F., and varies little from place to place or from year to year; but in the winter months the temperature is lower as the latitude increases and is subject to great See also:variations from place to place and from year to year. It seems quite possible that at no place in the Antarctic region do the mean monthly sea-level winter temperatures fall so low as in the Arctic poles of cold, but data regarding winter temperatures in the interior are lacking. All the complete yearly series of temperature show that the winter six months from See also:April to September have a low and nearly equal temperature, there being a very abrupt fall in February and March, and an equally abrupt rise in October and November. The warmest day experienced at the " Discovery's " winter-quarters had a mean temperature of 34.7°, and the coldest -45.7°, the extreme range of daily temperature being thus 8o•4° The absolutely lowest temperature recorded in the Antarctic region was–66.8° on a journey southward from the " Discovery's " winter-quarters by Lieut. Barne on the 15th of September 1903; the lowest temperature at the winter-quarters was -58.5° on the 28th of September 1903. On Sir Ernest Shackle-ton's expedition the lowest temperature was -57°; but no other expedition met temperatures lower than -45.6° on the Belgica," -43.1° at Cape Adare, and -41.4° on the " Gauss." Sudden rises of temperature during storms are See also:common in the Antarctic region, from whichever quarter the wind blows. During the ascent of Mt Erebus the temperature was found to fall as the height increased from o° F. at sea-level to -24° a.t 50o0 ft.; it remained stationary to 8600 ft., fell to -28° at ro,65o ft., and then rose to -22° at 11,500 ft., and fell a few degrees at the summit. It might appear as if the " isothermal layer " of the upper See also:atmosphere had been reached at a remarkably low elevation; but the temperature variations may also be explained by See also:differences in the temperature of the strong air currents which were passed through. Pressure and Winds.—The normal fall of pressure south-ward, which gives rise to the strong westerly winds of the roaring forties, appears to be arrested about 65° S., and to be succeeded by a rise of pressure farther south. This view is supported by the frequency of south-easterly winds in the neighbourhood of the Antarctic Circle reported by all explorers, and the See also:hypothesis of a south polar See also:anticyclone or area of high pressure over the Antarctic continent has gained currency in advance of any observations to establish it. The complete data of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition are not available at the time of See also:writing, but the yearly mean pressure as re-corded at the " Discovery's " winter-quarters was 29.35 in. for 1902, and 29.23 in. for 1903. At Cape Adare it was 29.13 in. for 1899, in the " Belgica " 29.31 in. for 1898, and in the " Gauss " 29.13 in. for 1902. These figures, so far as they are comparable, show distinctly higher pressures in the higher latitudes, and the wind observations See also:bear out the inference of a scuth-polar high pressure area, as at the " Discovery's " winter-quarters 8o % of the winds had an easterly component, and only 3 % a westerly component. It is bewildering,however, to find that on the sledge journeys there was an equally marked preponderance of wind with a westerly component, and in discussing the result in the published records of the expedition Mr R. H. See also:Curtis, of the Meteorological See also:Office, See also:felt compelled to ask whether the correction for variation of the See also:compass (in that region about 145°) was possibly omitted in the case of the sledge journeys. The " Gauss " observations and those at Cape Adare See also:bore out the frequency of easterly winds, and on the " Scotia " it was observed that practically, all of the easterly winds met with were to the south of the Antarctic Circle. The "Belgica " found rather more westerly than easterly winds in her drift; easterly winds predominating in summer, westerly winds in winter. At Cape Royds Shackleton found easterly winds to predominate, the most frequent direction being south-east; but on the great southern journey, south-south-east winds prevailed, occasionally swinging round to south-south-west, and even at the farthest south (88° S.) the ridges into which the snow was blown, ro,000 ft. above the sea, showed that south-southeasterly winds. predominated. On the journey to the Magnetic Pole Professor David found that along the coast the prevailing winds were south-westerly, with occasional blizzards from the south-east, but he noticed that the westerly winds were of the nature of a land See also:breeze, springing up soon after midnight and continuing to See also:blow fresh until about 10 a.m. Thus the See also:balance of See also:probability inclines towards the hypothesis of a south-polar high-pressure area. An upper current of air blowing from a north-westerly direction was usually indicated by the clouds and See also:smoke on Mt Erebus, and on the occasion of a great eruption, when the steam See also:column reached more than 20,000 ft. above the sea it entered a still higher stratum of wind blowing from the south-east. The intensity of the blizzards is worthy of remark, for the velocity of the wind often reached 40 or even 6o m. an See also:hour, and they were usually accompanied by a rapid rise of temperature. Observations of See also:sunshine made at the " Discovery's " winter-quarters yielded many records of continuous sunshine extending throughout 24 consecutive See also:hours, and in the summer months about 50 % of the possible sunshine was often recorded, the maximum being 490 hours, or 66% of the total possible for December 1903. Thus, although the sun was above the See also:horizon only for 246 days, it shone sufficiently to yield more than 1725 hours of See also:bright sunshine for the year, an amount exceeded in few parts of England, where the sun may shine on 365 days. The intensity of See also:solar See also:radiation in the clear weather of the Antarctic makes it feel exceedingly hot even when the air temperature is far below the freezing point. There is a great difference between the clear skies of 78° S. and the extremely frequent fogs which See also:shroud the coast near the Antarctic Circle and render navigation and See also:surveying exceedingly difficult. Heavy snowstorms are frequent on the coast, but inland during the snow blizzards it is impossible to say whether the whirling snow-dust is falling from the air or being swept from the ground. Professor David is inclined to believe that the surface of the snow-plains is being lowered more by the action of the wind sweeping the snow out to sea than it is raised by precipitation, the total amount of which appears to be very small. Flora and Fauna.—Recent expeditions have discovered that, despite the low temperature of the summer, in which no month has a mean temperature appreciably above the freezing point, there are on the exposed Antarctic land patches of ground with a sparse growth of cryptogamic vegetation consisting of mosses, lichens, fungi and fresh-water See also:algae. The richest vegetation discovered on the " Nimrod " expedition consisted of sheets of a See also:lichen or fungoid growth, covering the bottom of the fresh-water lakes near Cape Royds, and visible through the clear ice throughout the many months when the water is frozen. No flowering See also:plants occur within the Antarctic Circle or in the immediately adjacent lands. The marine fauna is very rich and abundant. All the expeditions obtained many new See also:species, and the resemblance which occurs between many of the forms and those which inhabit the Arctic seas has given rise to the hypothesis that certain species have been able to pass from one frigid zone to the other. It is argued on the other hand that all the forms which resemble each other in the two polar areas are See also:cosmopolitan, and occur also in the intermediate seas; but the so-called " problem of bipolarity " is still unsettled. See also:Bird life on sea and land is fairly abundant, the most common forms being the See also:skua See also:gull, snow petrels, and the various species of penguins. The penguins are specially adapted for an aquatic life, and depend for their food entirely on marine animals. The largest species, the emperor See also:penguin, inhabits the most southerly coast known on the edge of the Great Barrier, and there it breeds at mid-winter, very interesting specializations of structure and See also:habit making this apparently impossible feat practicable. The social organization and habits of the various species of penguins have been care-fully studied, and show that these birds have arrived at a See also:stage of what might almost be called See also:civilization worthy of the most intelligent beings native to their continent. The only mammalian life in the Antarctic is marine, in the form of various species of whales, but not the " right whale," and a few species of seals which live through the winter by keeping open blow-holes in the sea-ice. There is no trace of any land See also:animal except a few species of See also:minute wingless See also:insects of a degenerate type. The fresh-water ponds teem with microscopic life, the See also:tardigrada, or " water bears " and rotifers showing a remarkable power of resistance to low temperature, being thawed out alive after being frozen solid for months and perhaps for years. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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