ANTARCTIC MYSTERIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 213, 8 September 1928, Page 7 (Supplement)

ANTARCTIC MYSTERIES.

THE BYRD EXPEDITION. SOURCE OF SOUTHERN STORMS CONTINENT AS LARGE AS EUROPE. (Copyright 1928 by the Xcw York Times Co.) In 1 lie Antarctic Continent, -which has defied tlie efforts of men to penetrate more than a few of its mysteries, tlie opportunities for scientific work are greater than in any other part of the world. What is the course and tlie cause x of those strange storms that howl out of tbe South and die away so suddenly? Wltat is tlie deptli of the great ice cap which covers a territory the size of tlie United States'' Are the great mountain ranges there connected with the Andean system? Are there two continents, divided by an ice stream, or only one: Is it possible to determine in the Antarctic how the negative electrical charge of the earth is replenished? What causes the Aurora, that strange and beautiful phenomenon, which can be studied in the South even better than in the North? Two Australian scientists who accompanied British expeditions to the Antarctic —those of Shack leton and Scott—believe that Commander Richard i E. Bvrd has before him the, best oppori trinity a man has ever had to solve some of the major problems of the great white continent. One of the scientists is Professor Sir Edgcworth David, Professor of Geology at the LDiversity of ' Sydney, Australia, who accompanied siiackicton on his expeditions, and led t.he first party to rcach the South MagI lictie Pole in" 1900. The other is Professor Griffith Taylor, senior geologist, on Scott's last expedition, and now Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Sydney. The former's views follow: — (By Sir Edgeworth David.) Tbe expedition about to start for Autartica under Commander Byrd, already famous in the Arctic, i 3 obviously not bent on a mcro dash to the Pole, but will devote itself to the study of some salient unsolved problems of that continent, which, if it la not divided into two portions by a long sea strait, is quite as large as the whole of Europe, and the only extensive unknown region of the world. Tbe outstanding problem to be solved is geographical —as to whether this great land area is bisected or not by a belt of ocean stretching from tho Ross Sea on tbe Australian side to Weddell Sea in the American quadrant. The explorations of Scott, Siiackicton and .Vlawson, and particularly those oi Amundsen, have shown that the Australian quadrant of Antartica is dominated by a mijrhty range of mountains known as the Antarctic Horst, trending southward and eventually south-east-ward into the Queen Claude s range discovered by Amundsen. This range attains altitudes, as at Mount Nilson, of 15.500 feet. It forms the majestic rim of the great inland plateau, which, at the South Pole itself, is about 10,000 feet high. The range where last seen by Amundsen, was trending towards the south-east in the direction of Weddell sea. Docs this great range continue on until it reaches the highlands of tho esistern shore of the Weddell Sea, or does it, diverge to the left so as to leave the Weddell Sea on its right and nass on into the Antarctic Andes to the west of Graham Land? Largest XJnworked Coalfield. Unquestionably tho Antarctic Andes are a southerly continuation of the South American Andes, and it would not. be au unreasonable inference that tliev extend right across Antarctica for soine 1500 miles, so as to join tho Antarctic Horst, were it not for tho fact that the rocks composing those two great ranges are wholly different in structuic, composition and age. Those of the Antarctic Andes are formed mostly of volcanic lavas and other igneous material, and show evidence Qf having been crumpled up into immense folds. On the other hand, the rocks of the Antarctic Horst, apart from its foundations, arc lying nearly flat, are mostly rot igneous, being formed of sandstones, shales, limestones, and coal cgeama, and are older than thcee of the Antarctic Andes. The outstanding geological feature in the Ross dependency of the Australian quadrant is the existence there of a vast coalfield, probably at least 1000 miles in length by 50 to*Bo or more miles in width. 'This is perhaps the largest uuworked coalfield in the world. Irank Wild, on the first Siiackicton expedition, discovered seven seams of coal at tbe head of the Bcardmore Glacicr, of which at least one scam was of workable quality. The foss-il plants brought back from this locality by Scott's heroic party on tbeir last expedition are of quite extraordinary interest, and promise a rich harvest if only this area is systematically and scientifically explored.

Is Antarctica Divided?

Coin man "er rd lias stated that he may make Lis main base near Amundsen's old base, Frutnheim, at the Bay of Whales. This would appear to be a very favourable spot. The presence of an ice-covered island close by minimises the risk of that part of t,le . oss ' ce barrier breaking away and drifting out to sea. Amundsen's experience showed that the area was comparatively free from violent winds, a point surely of paramount importance to an expedition which presumably will rely largely ou airplanes for laying depots and for widely extended exploration. It will bo within easy reach by airplane of the Beardmore Glacier valley and other great valleys, which arc as deep as the Grand Canyon of Colorado. These form the spillways for the overflow of the inland ice. The Bay of "Whales is also within easy reach of 'the very little explored King Kdward VII. Land, and not too far from the quite untravelled region of Carmen Laud and Queen Maude's liange. Possible there is a junction between Carmen Land and Queen Maude's llange. This, if discovered, will settle the question as to whether Antarctica i? divided or not, and will also throw light on the interesting problem as to whether the great coalfield is continuous, at least as far as Queen Maude's Range. On the American Side. Scott's- discoveries prove that at the time the numerous coal seains in this field were formed there was probably little, if any, ice cap at the South Pole the whole of the continent being overspread with a growth of probably dwarf types of coniferous trees and shrubs. The evidence on the American side of Antarctica at Graham's Land shows that aj

three or moro subeequenfc epoch® Antarctica "w as clothed with- abundant vegetation, as proved by the researches of the Swedish, expedition undGr Nordenskjold. lu using airplanes in Antarctica most trouble may be anticipated from the blizzard winds, which blow spirally outwards from near the South Pole as a centrc. It would, of course, be necessary on any airplane expedition to take a tent with sleeping bags and sufficient food for at least a week, as well as cooking apparatus in the event of the aviators being forced down by a blizzard. In such a ease they couid probably iind a safe spot for descent almost anywhere on the snow surface, which is mostly hard except close to the Pole. They could erect a tent and allow their airplanes to bo completely enveloped in the drifting snow. At the end of the t blizzard, which may last from one to about nine days, they would be able to | dig their 'planes out of the compacted snow, and they should bo none the worse for their temporary encasement. On account of the intense dryness —it i? practically one of the desert regions of the earth so far as moisture is concerned—it is not likely that the 'planes will be troubled, as was the case in the Arctic, by depositions of ico crystals on the propellers and otlier parts of the machines, but disabilities of this kind may be anticipated in the Graham Land region. Much Expected from 'Planes. While much may be expected from airplanes in the way of general longdistance exploration, their most useful function for the scientific exploration of Antarctica will perhaps be the laying of a series of depots in spots best suited for detailed studies of fossils, rocks and, mineral to be found in the vast amount of weathered debris to be found at the foot of the great valley cliffs. It is even possible that in those areas mammalian bones may be recovered which would give invaluable clues ar> to possible past migrations or animals from South America, via Antarctica to Tasmania and Australia, and vice versa. Airplanes, too, should afford a rapid means of securing meteorological data, particularly in the higher regions, but it is to be hoped that, if sucli a favourable base as the liay of Whales is chosen as Mvrd's base, further meteorological observations will be conducted there by means of unmanned hydrogen balloons, carrying self-registering instruments, the latter subsequently recoverable according to the methods successfully used by Dr. G. C. Simpson on Scott's last expedition. Nordenskjohl made the very interesting observation that whereas most continents of the world are surrounded by a submerged platform 100 fathoms below sealevel, Antarctica has such a platform or continental shelf 200 fathoms deep. The great weight of the 5,000,000 square miles of Antarctica ice cap, he concludes, depressed Antarctica by the amount by which tbo .Antractic continental shelf exceeds the normal depth. Melting Ice Would Raise Oceans. It may be agreed that from these figures can be calculated the thickness of the Antarctic ice cap, for in order to depress the whole of Antarctica the equivalent of 000 ft the rock material underlying the continent at a depth must have been forced downward by an equal amount. But this rock material is three times as heavy as ice, so that three j superimposed layers of ice, each 600 ft thick, would have been needed in order to weigh down the 000 ft thick plastic mass of heavy rock. Therefore the average thickness of the Antarctica ice cap may be argued to be 1800 ft. The thickness of this ice cap and the j question «3 to whether it will wax or wane in the future are of vast economic importance to the whole world. The ice cap of f>.000,000 square miles in area is more than one-thirtieth of the whole area of the oceans of the world. Koughly It-may be stated that for every :>sft iri thickness of ice cap melted off Antarctica, s<'a level all over the world will be raised about one foot. Thus if the average thickness of the ice is now 1800 ft, and if all the ice cap were melted off, tea level all over the world would rise about, f>oft and thousands of millions of pounds value would be lost through the submergence of all wharves, docks and their warehouses, and all tracts of country whicli are now not more than 50ft above sea level. Sources of Weather. Geological evidence shows that in the 1 past practically all the snow and ice has frequently disappeared from Antarctica. Recently collected evidence proves that in most parts of Antarctica the volume of ice is lessening rapidly. It has formt erly been some 800 ft to DOOft thicker than now. At such a time sea level all over the world would have stood some i 25ft lower than at present. Is'ot the least i interesting of the researches for Commander Byrd's expedition will be that of i seeking evidence respectively of the past l and present thicknesses of the Antarctica ■ ico cap, also the determination of the : areas where it is Mailing or possibly , waxing, its rate of movement seaward, ; and the source of the snows which i nourish it.

From the economic point of view it. may l>e anticipated tliat tlie greatest immediate gain to science from the expedition will be in the realm of meteorology. Antarctica is the greatest refrigerator in tlie world, and though hi that capacity it is passive as compared with the activity of the sun's heat—the latter being the prime controller of weather and climate—Antarctic weather conditions, by keepiiig a sea like Weddel! (Sea frozen for one year an<l ice-free for another, automatically sum up for us the net results of the various changing factors which go to make up weather, and this perhaps offers possibilities of loug-range weather forecasts. For example. It. C. Mossman, of the Bruce expedition, concludes that if Weddel! Sea remains iee-eovercd for an exceptional length of time in any. particular year, that year is likely to be one of good winter rains on the coast .of Chile south of latitude 33 degrees south, and conversely an exceptionally early breaking of the ice from Weddell Sea is accompanied by a failure of the rains in the above areas. It is hoped that some relation may yet be traced between the state of the sea ice in the Ross Sea and other parts of the Antarctic coast and the subsequent weatkher conditions iiij Australia and New Zealand. If only Commander Byrd can establish himself safely at such a base as the Bay of "Whales, much valuable contribution to science may be reasonably anticipated.