ARCTIC GETTING WARMER

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6814, 18 January 1929, Page 2

ARCTIC GETTING WARMER

sDeg. MORE SO THAN NORMALLY.

The Arctic climate'is getting_ warmer, at least temporarily. This is indicated, we are told by Science Service’s ‘Daily News Bulletin’ (Washington), by the results of the U.S. Coast Guard’s expedition to the waters between Labrador and Greenland, and which has recently returned after an absence oS over two months. By measurement of ocean temperatures in this area, they found that a surface layer of water 300 ft. thick, covering 100,000 square miles, is 5 degrees warmer than' normally. “Such an additional heat reservoir of tremendous proportions is bound to'have far-reaching climatic effects,’’ pointed out Commander Edward H. Smith, who commanded the expedition. Other important conclusions were as follows: The bottom water in the trough between Greenland and Labrador has a temperature of 37deg. Fahrenheit, and a saltiness of 3.49 per cent. “The observations showed,’’ said Commander Smith, “that this water was not produced on the surface by melting ice, as suggested in the theories of Nansen and Petersson, but indications point to a slow bottom creep fro mthe Antarctic as the source of such waters, even off Greenland.’’ Tho coastal shelves of Greenland are much narrower than shown on present-day maps, while the Labrador shelf is wider. Three headlands were sighted by the Marion north of (jOdeg. latitude, which indicate that tbe coast of Baffin Land as shown on the maps, is in some places as much as 20 miles in error. The Arctic waters are extremely open this summer. About a thousand bergs in Disco Bay near tho glacier front, and 200 bergs stranded on the Labrador coast near Cape Harrison, constituted practically tho only ice present. The Arctic pack itself shrank to 20 miles off Cape Dier, Baffin Land.