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Recent Russian researchesin the arctic sea and in themountains of Central AsiaProfessor Jules Schokalsky D.Sc. aa Hon. President of the Geographical Society ofthe Soviet Union,

Version of record first published: 27 Feb 2008.

To cite this article: Professor Jules Schokalsky D.Sc. (1936): Recent Russianresearches in the arctic sea and in the mountains of Central Asia, ScottishGeographical Magazine, 52:2, 73-84

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THE SCOTTISH

GEOGRAPHICALMAGAZINE

Vol. 52, No. 2 March 1936

RECENT RUSSIAN RESEARCHES IN THE ARCTICSEA AND IN THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL ASIA

By Professor JULES SCHOKALSKY, D.SC., Hon. President of theGeographical Society of the Soviet Union

(With Illustrations and Diagrams)

[A paper read before the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Edinburghon the 30th January 1935, on the occasion of the presentation to Professor

Schokalsky of the Society's Research Medal]

IF not a direct pupil of Sir John Murray, the father of oceanography,I was at least honoured by his friendship, and was able to gain agood deal of knowledge of the different branches of this scienceduring many visits to Challenger Lodge and the Villa Medusa. Iam sure, therefore, that the oceanographers of the Soviet Union, inintroducing oceanographical studies into the programme of theSecond Polar Year, would have met with Sir John Murray's heartiestapproval, and I am happy to make such a reference to him in thetown (Edinburgh) where he spent the great part of his laboriouslife, and before the Society which gave him his greatest support.

International research upon the geophysical phenomena of theatmosphere in high latitudes was first seriously undertaken in1882-1883, which was known as the First International Polar Year.Observations on a much greater scale were taken fifty years later(1932-1933) throughout the Second Polar Year, and it is of thework achieved by the Soviet Union in connection with this greatinternational effort that I am about to speak. But whereas thesubjects of investigation in most of the countries concerned relatedchiefly to meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, in the SovietUnion and in a few other countries they included much oceano-graphical research.

* For all references sec list at end of each article.

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The scientists and the scientific institutions of the Union, how-ever, did not wait for the Second International Polar Year in orderto study the uninterrupted chain of coastal seas, extending fromNorth Cape to the Bering Strait. During the last fifteen years,commercial navigation between Western Europe and the greatSiberian rivers, Ob and Yenisei, has shown considerable increase,and this in itself has led to investigation. Moreover, the fisheries,now so greatly developed in the Barents Sea, were the cause ofdetailed research in this area and in the Kara Sea. Let us note inpassing, that the oceanographers and hydrographers of the Unionregard as the eastern limit of the Barents Sea the archipelago ofNovaya Zemlya and a straight line thence to Franz Josef Land,while we regard the Kara Sea as extending eastward to the archi-pelago of Northern Land. In these investigations, the Barents Seawas considered as the primary, and the Kara Sea as the secondaryobject of research.

All the seas bordering on northern Eurasia lie on the continentalshelf and consequently are shallow. The western limit of the BarentsSea is an almost straight line between Norway and Spitsbergen,and this coincides with the edge of the continental shelf, which herefalls abruptly to the deep European Arctic Sea. On this edge afurrow, deeper than 600 metres, occurs south of Bear Island.Between Spitsbergen and Bear Island there is another deep channel ;a third lies between Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land, while afourth is found east of this archipelago. These four furrows formapproaches to the Barents Sea by which the deeper and warmerlayers of ocean water penetrate this shallow area. Since the reliefof the ocean floor is of great importance to these investigations, itwas necessary to start by determining its nature as precisely aspossible. More than 12,000 soundings were taken, and after theircritical examination, the bathymetrical chart of the Barents Seawas made by N. Zubov. The relief is complicated, but the greatestdepths do not exceed 300 metres.

The Barents Sea has been visited by many expeditions, but itsoceanography has been the special study of the Moscow Oceano-graphical Institute. In the last twelve years this Institute has sentover a hundred expeditions, each lasting about two months, con-cerned with the physical and biological oceanography of this sea.The whole of the Barents Sea has been covered by almost regularlydistributed oceanographical stations. Along the so-called Kolameridian (long. 30o 30' E.), a great many stations were taken, inorder to ascertain the oceanographical conditions across the NorthCape current, an offspring of the Gulf Stream.

During the last four years, including 1935, these investigationswere extended to the Greenland Sea, and four times a year, threeoceanographical sections were made along the three parallels of76o, 78o, and 80o N. from Spitsbergen to the edge of the EastGreenland current.

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RECENT RUSSIAN RESEARCHES IN THE ARCTIC SEA 75

This work was necessary in order to ascertain the temperatureof the Atlantic branch of the Gulf Stream west of Spitsbergen, andto know what temperature conditions may be expected along theEurasian continental slope of the North Polar Ocean.

As work went on in winter as well as summer, it is evidentthat these voyages represent the accumulation of a vast amount ofmaterial available for the study of the Barents Sea and even of theGreenland Sea. The data obtained by the OceanographicalInstitute together with those of the ice-breaker Krassin, which werecollected while proceeding to the relief of Nobile's airship, led theUnion oceanographers to discover an unexpected phenomenon ofwhich I will speak later. During the memorable voyage of theFram (1893-1896), Nansen discovered that the upper layer of theArctic Ocean from 200 to 250 metres in thickness was less salinethan the deeper water, and that it had a temperature of —i*o° to—1 "9° C , while the deeper layer, from 600 to 700 metres thick, wasof oceanic salinity (over 35 per cent.), and had a temperature of+ 1-2° C.

Five years later, S. O. Makazov, on the ice-breaker Ermak, be-tween Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, found that the zerotemperature occurred at a depth of about 200 metres, and thatbelow this the temperature rose to + i-i° C. This confirmedNansen's observations.

In 1927 the ship Elding, between Franz Josef Land and NovayaZemlya, recorded temperatures of +o-6° C. at 100 metres depth.Then, in 1928, the Krassin's observations north of Spitsbergen inlat. 81 ° 47' N. revealed a new fact. At 70 metres the water wasfound to have oceanic salinity of over 35 per cent, and a temperatureof —4-6° C. Sverdrup's observations in the Nautilus in 1928 con-firmed these facts for latitude 82o N. In 1929 the Sedov and thePersee, the ships belonging to the Moscow Oceanographical Institute,at almost the same place as Makazov chose for his observations in1901, found the zero isotherm to occur at the depth of 125 metresinstead of 200 metres. Again, in 1931, the Persée, in the same vicinity,found this thermobath at 75 metres, and the Lomohosov, a littlefarther east, found it from 25 to 40 metres, below which depth thetemperature increased to +i-6° C. Furthermore, according to theship Knipovitch, the zero line between Franz Josef Land and NovayaZemlya in 1932 lay at the depth of 75 metres, and the temperatureof the water below reached +2-1° C.

In 1934 the Sedov and the Sadko, between Franz Josef Landand the Northern Land Archipelago, ascertained the zero thermo-bath to lie between 70 and 80 metres, and finally the Persée, in thatyear reaching lat. 81 ° 17' N., north of Spitsbergen, early in September,recorded an air temperature of 12o C. and a sea temperature of+5-5° C. down to 10 metres.

These records, and others not cited here, together provide incon-testable evidence of a progressive warming of the Arctic Ocean.

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The branch of the North Atlantic Current which enters it by wayof the edge of the continental shelf round Spitsbergen has evidentlybeen increasing in volume, and has introduced a body of warmwater so great, that the surface layer of cold water which was 200metres thick in Nansen's time, has now been reduced to less than100 metres in thickness. The branch of the Atlantic current whichenters the Barents Sea by way of the Scandinavian edge has longbeen known as North Cape Current. We now know that thiscurrent is composed of two different bodies of water. Near thecoast there is a stream of Norwegian continental water at its maxi-mum development in summer, and almost disappearing in winter.Farther north we find Atlantic water with salinity greater than35 per cent, and a temperature varying from + 2 0 to + 4 0 or + 5 0 C.These Atlantic waters penetrate the deeper layers of the BarentsSea by four routes, viz. : by the two furrows in the continentalplatform south and north of Bear Island respectively ; from thenorth by the depression east of Spitsbergen ; and lastly, from thenorth-east by the deeper depression between Franz Josef Land andNovaya Zemlya.1

The surface current system of the Barents Sea is much more com-plicated than has hitherto been supposed, and is still the subject ofinvestigation. But it may be stated that the system is in large partcontrolled by the inward movements of Atlantic water just de-scribed, and it may reasonably be supposed that the volume of thisinflowing water is approximately equal to that of the currentsflowing out by the same passages. I t is possible to hazard thepreliminary estimate that the complete renewal of the water of theBarents Sea is effected in four years.

The data of temperature and salinity of the North Cape Currentcollected since 1900 have yielded results important both from ascientific and a practical point of view, and intimately related onthe one hand to the oceanography of the northern coastal seas ofEurasia, and on the other hand to the atmospheric conditions of thegreater part of Europe. The regular oceanographical cruises madeseveral times a year along the meridian of long. 30o 30' E. haveprovided material for research carried out at the Moscow Oceano-graphical Institute by Mr. N. Zubov, who is Professor of Oceano-graphy at Moscow. He calculated the mean temperatures alongthis meridian between lat. 72o 30' N. and 69o 30' N. from the surfaceto a depth of 200 metres. He next obtained the temperaturegradient of the water for a summer day, which he found to amountto o-O2° C. for twenty-four hours. This fact makes it possible topredict the temperature of the North Cape Current at any givenmoment in summer.

Other data are provided by the well-known maps of the Copen-hagen Observatory showing the state of the ice in the Arctic Sea.These maps have all been compiled by Speerschneider. From them,Professor Zubov calculated in percentages the areas of the Barents

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RECENT RUSSIAN RESEARCHES IN THE ARCTIC SEA 77

Sea occupied by ice during the summer months from April toAugust for the years 1900 to 1931. A comparison of the meantemperatures of the North Cape Current for June with the meanarea of ice in the Barents Sea (for this month), reveals a closerelationship between the two phenomena, the correlation coefficientbeing 0-713 with a probable error of ±0-081.

The observations published by the International Ice Patrol atthe Newfoundland Great Banks record the number of icebergslocated in the Atlantic Ocean north of lat. 48o N. When theobservations of all three phenomena are plotted on a single diagram

FIG. I .

' - • / •

/

/

~T~-/1

\

\\— ///—

// /• • - - / - -

/

\

\ \

* \ \

* \

\

/

/

j 1

111/ /

/ / ''J // / 'J

1 ¡

1

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1924 1925 1926 1917 1923 1929 1930 1931 I95Z

1. Mean of temperature : North Cape current.2. — — Mean areas in summer of ice in Barents Sea.3. Number of icebergs south of 48o N. in the West Atlantic.

(The amounts and numbers recorded on the graph are, of course, merely relative.)

(see Fig. 1), it is seen that a rather close relationship exists betweenthem. Furthermore, it will be shown that it takes about one yearfor a wave of warmth or of cold to traverse the distance from theKola meridian to Novaya Zemlya.

Further oceanographical work demonstrated that, while thedata obtained along the Kola meridian enable predictions to bemade regarding the state of the ice in the Barents Sea, they do notjustify predictions regarding the area farther east. For this purpose,it is necessary to know more about the thermal condition of thebranch of the Atlantic Current which passes round Spitsbergen.Consequently, as has been mentioned before, regular cruises wereorganised in 1932 in the Greenland Sea.

Such an outline of the oceanographical studies instituted by the

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Soviet Union serves to show their value and interest. When theInternational Commission of the Second Polar Year met at Lenin-grad in August 1931, the Commission charged with the Polar YearObservations in the Soviet Union asked that oceanbgraphicalresearch should be added to the programme. This proposal was aconfession of the belief that, since physical conditions of air and seaare closely related, the most valuable results of this great inter-national scientific effort would undoubtedly be obtained fromsimultaneous study of the two elements. The proposal was ulti-mately accepted, and as it was the Union which had asked for thisextension of the work of the Polar Year, it was for the Union to setan example.

The oceanographical observations of which I have been speakingwere fundamental to the preparation of a vast plan envisagingresearch not merely in the seas belonging to the Arctic Basin, butalso in the Okhotsk and Bering Seas.

It would be tedious and of little value were I to recount thecruises of each ship in turn. I will merely mention, therefore, theprogramme of work prepared for all the expeditions and carriedout scrupulously by each one wherever possible.

All the oceanographical observations were made at identicalhorizons, at each of which, temperature and salinity were recorded.In addition, many ships recorded the content of oxygen and hydro-gen ions, nitrogen, carbonic acid, nitrates and nitrites as well as thedegree of alkalinity. Meteorological observations were rigorouslytaken, and several expeditions were able to record insolation even attwo altitudes. At many stations currents were observed when shipswere at anchor, and aerological observations were made sometimesup to the altitude of twenty kilometres.

In 1932 seven ships navigated the Polar Seas beyond the BarentsSea, where the work of the Moscow Oceanographical Institute wasbeing carried on. By these expeditions, surveys of the Kara, EastSiberian and Bering Seas were accomplished. In 1933 sixteenvessels completed the navigation of the whole Eurasian coast as faras the Pacific Ocean. For the first time the Northern Archipelagowas circumnavigated by the ice-breaker Siberiakov, with ProfessorSchmidt at the head of the expedition. They also completed, forthe first time, the northern passage of Asia from West to East in onevoyage.

The ice-breaker Taimyr, in 1933, was the first to penetrate intothe Schokalsky Strait, separating the two southern islands of theNorthern Archipelago. I t is interesting to note that the soundingstaken in this Strait gave quite unexpected results, showing that ithad a depth of 320 metres. On the whole continental shelf ofSiberia, the depths, as a rule, rarely exceed 100 to 150 metres.This shows that the origin of the Strait is probably tectonic. Heremight be noted the Sadko's discovery of a furrow on the edge of thecontinental shelf, west of Northern Land.1 I t is also interesting to

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RECENT RUSSIAN RESEARCHES IN THE ARCTIC SEA 79

note that 1933 saw the completion of the hydrographie survey ofthe coast from Vladivostok to Bering Strait.

It should be mentioned that much of the oceanographical workof the Union was carried out after the close of the InternationalPolar Year. 1934 was therefore no less interesting than the twopreceding years. During this period the Okhotsk and Bering Seas,together with the Bering Strait, were the scenes of oceanographicalinvestigation.2 In addition to the vessels at work, many stationswere situated along the coasts. At each of them hydrological,meteorological, aerological and magnetic observations were made.

The accumulation of new scientific material is very considerable.The discovery concerning the warming of the Polar Sea, whichdates from 1921, was also observed by the 1928 Marion Expeditionin Baffin Bay as well as in the Barents Sea. Beside its bearings onmeteorology, it is intimately connected with the products of thefishing industry, and on agriculture in regions far distant from theArctic coasts. For example, the floods on the Vistula are caused by

(Sadko) 1935

200

1895 (Nansen)FIG. 2. The depth in metres of the zero isoternobath.

the thawing of ice in the Carpathians, and this obviously dependson the state of air temperature which will be related to this warmingof the polar waters.

When the ship Persée returned in the latter part of September 1934from its cruise, the prediction was made that the autumn and thefirst half of the winter would be very mild. This forecast turnedout to be entirely justified : there is no need to be a meteorologistnor an oceanographer to see the value of such predictions. Fig. 2makes clearer the meaning of the discovery.

We discovered that the North Polar Sea is actually undergoinga period of rising temperature. The observations made show thatthis phenomenon does not merely consist of a simple wave as shownon the graph. It is something much more complicated. Associatedwith the principal movement can be discerned waves of lesserimportance, each with different phases. Secondary and successivesmaller interfering waves made the forecast more difficult than ifonly one simple wave existed. We are really just at the beginningof our discoveries and have not yet an exact idea of the value orperiod of this principal wave. Certainly it is not the first time thatsuch a feature has appeared in the conditions of the Polar Ocean,

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but science has not at its disposal any records which might enlightenus as to the past.

In order to extend our knowledge, investigations were pursuedinto the Greenland Sea. But above all, what we needed was to findout regularly, at least four times a year, what the Gulf Stream itselfwas doing in the Florida Strait and off Cape Hatteras. For thispurpose, we kept in constant touch with American scientists, but itseems that, even in America, it is not easy to organise regular re-search of this character.

It remains only to give some account of our work in mattersrelating solely to meteorology and geophysics during the SecondPolar Year. Altogether ninety-two stations took part in the PolarYear, and of these thirty-three were completely new. In additionto these, the stations of the normal service continued to operate.The Polar Year Stations extended in latitude from Rodolf Island,Franz Josef Land, lat. 8i° 47' N. to lat. 39o 11' N., since the achieve-ments of the Union in this form of research were not confined to theArctic coast. Several stations and even regular observatories wereestablished in the mountains, as for example in the Tien-Shan at analtitude of 3600 metres, on the slopes of the Khan Tengri peakwhich exceeds 7000 metres, and in the Pamirs at a height of 4300metres. The last observatory is perched on a rocky height in themiddle of one of the greatest glaciers in the world, the Fedtchenko,eighty kilometres long. (See Plate 1.)

As in the case of the oceanographical expeditions, all thesemountain stations and observatories are continuing their work eventhough the International Polar Year is ended.

The magnetical work of the Union has also been very extensive.North of the parallel of lat. 60o N., four magnetical stations were atwork : Franz Josef Land (Tikhaja Bay), Novaya Zemlya (Strait ofMatochkin Shar), Dickson Island and the town of Yakutsk. Thetwo last were opened specially to celebrate the Second PolarYear.

In connection with the establishment of mountain stations, adetailed study was made of glaciers, a branch of research whichinvolved altogether six expeditions between 1932 and 1933. Thefirst one explored the Ural Mountains, where the discovery of somesmall glaciers proved that glaciation still occurs in that range ; thesecond explored the Altai Mountains, and the third the Tien Shan,where eighty glaciers were surveyed ; the fourth expedition wentto the Pamirs, where, as has already been stated, an observatory wasbuilt on a glacier, and many other glaciers were inspected ; thefifth expedition explored the valley of the river Zarevchan ; and thesixth, the Caucasus, where sixty glaciers were either surveyed for thefirst time or examined afresh.

The Ural Expedition, led by A. Aleshkov, discovered twelve newglaciers in all and ten new lakes at the end of glaciers. They sur-

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mm ^•.¿^¿N*

PLATE I . The Geophysical Observatory on the Fedtchenko Glacier.

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PLATE 2. Mount Stalin, in the Pamirs, the highest peak in theSoviet Union, 7495 metres.

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w

»'*•

-'̂ .* H' ̂ '% s i *

wwsäs

PLATE 3. The séracs of the Stalin Glacier on Mount Stalin betweenCamps III and IV (4500 metres and 5600 metres).

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PLATE 4. Lake Sarez.(See note on Lake Sarez, p. 120.)

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RECENT RUSSIAN RESEARCHES IN THE ARCTIC SEA 81

veyed all the glaciers and constructed topographical and geologicalmaps on the scale of I : 5g,ooo.

The Altai Expedition discovered twenty-seven small new glaciersand two new lakes. They made a detailed survey of the Katouneglacier, and established two meteorological stations at the altitudeof 2IOO metres and a third one at iooo metres.

The Tien-Shan Expedition led by S. V. Kalesnik surveyedeighty already known glaciers in 1932 and twenty new ones in 1933.They made a topographical and geological survey, observed thealtitudes of the snow line and established a temporary meteorologicalstation in the firn basin of the Petrov glacier at the altitude of4275 metres.

The Pamir Expedition, under V. I. Popov, worked principallyaround the Fedtchenko glacier, and made a detailed study of it andof many others in the Trans-Altai Range and the Peter I. Range.They established three temporary meteorological stations near theend of the glacier tongues, and observed in four sections the velocityof movement of the Fedtchenko glacier by means of theodoliteobservations. They were also able to make several other surveys.

The Zarevchan Expedition, under I. A. Kireev, accomplishedvarious pieces of hydrological, meteorological and glaciologicalwork, as, for example, the completing of the levelling of the Zarevchanterraces and the establishing of two new meteorological stations.

The Caucasus Expedition, led by E. A. Popov, explored in 1932fifty-six glaciers of the first rank, and established five meteorologicalstations in high altitudes. They also pursued different glaciologicaland hydrological studies. In 1933 they surveyed sixty-six glaciers,established three meteorological stations, and studied glacierablation. On some glaciers, investigations of the thickness of theice were carried on by means of echo-sounding methods.

The mountain observatories are regular winter quarters. Theyare provisioned for a whole year and support a scientific staff of tento twelve men. The volume of work carried out between 1932 and1933 was considerable, and the most striking results were achievedin the Pamirs, where the core of the highest region was explored forthe first time. The valleys there have an average height of 5000metres and are surrounded by a chain of peaks easily exceeding6000 metres. It is interesting to note that during the last twoyears' work the peak Garmo,* which had been considered as thehighest point of the Pamirs, was found to be only 6900 metres,and that there was another summit, hitherto unknown, whichreached the height of 7495 metres. This was Mount Stalin. (SeePlate 2.)

In 1933 an expedition under the leadership of N. P. Gorbounovwas despatched to conquer this highest point in the Pamirs, andindeed in the whole of the Soviet Union. The explorations of

* Muztaghata (Tagarma) previously given as 24,388 feet (7434 metres) in height.—ED.

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previous years showed that the ascent could only be accomplishedby slow degrees and that seven camps would have to be established.This last measure alone took from the 28th June to the 27th August.As it was the first time that the peak had been climbed, the establish-ment of the camps was no easy matter.

The seven camps were at the following altitudes : I at 2900metres, at the tongue of the Fedtchenko glacier ; I I at 3900 metres, onthe Bivouac glacier ; I I I at 4500 metres, on the middle of the Stalinglacier ; IV at 5600 metres, at the upper end of the same glacier.Between Camps I I I and IV, the Expedition had to pass thegigantic séracs of the Stalin glacier (see Plate 3). Camp V was at5900 metres, on a rock shoulder : the difficulties of climbing be-tween Camps IV and V is evident from the small distance betweenthem ; the main obstacle being the friability of the rock. Camp VIwas at 6400 metres, and Camp V I I at 6900 metres, on the firn ofMount Stalin. The base camp for the last ascent was No. IV, at5600 metres.

The ascent began on the 22nd August. On the 29th Augustthe climbing party of six had only reached the seventh and previouslyestablished camp. Three of the six became sick and were obligedto turn back, and the seriousness of the situation was aggravated bythe shortage of food. The native porters were ill, and food could notbe brought to the highest camp in sufficient quantities : the supplyavailable consisted only of the rations taken by the climbing party.They had an additional load in the form of an automatic meteoro-graph, which was very heavy.

On the 30th August the first attempt was made to carry themeteorograph to the top of the mountain, but it was too much forthe strength of the three climbers, and they had to be content withestablishing it on a strong firn at a height of 6850 metres.

During the night of the 31st August, a heavy fog enveloped thecamp and snow began to fall. On the ist and 2nd of September ablizzard was raging, the temperature falling to 45o C. below zero.The snow buried the tents, and that belonging to Gorbounov andGétie was completely destroyed. Abolakov in the second tent wasable to escape and rescue his two companions: On the 3rd Septem-ber the storm ceased and the weather became calm and clear. Gétiewas by this time unfit to move and had to stop in his tent. For pro-visions, there was left only one ja r of potted fish.

In spite of the two surviving climbers being nearly exhausted,Gorbounov decided to attempt the last 600 metres of the ascent andhe and Abolakov began this very difficult and dangerous climb.The younger man, Abolakov, climbed too hastily and fell : he wasable only to crawl to the summit. Gorbounov slowly attained thesummit, and made a tour of azimuths. They both reached CampV I I in moonlight. Thus was Mount Stalin conquered.

It is inevitable, of course, that in this short sketch of the work of

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RECENT RUSSIAN RESEARCHES IN THE ARCTIC SEA 83

the Second Polar Year in the SovietfUnion many details shouldhave been omitted, but I hope that some idea has been gained of thegreat effort which the Union has made to play its part in a world-wide scientific movement. The results of the Soviet contributionto the programme are ready for publication, and an account of theexploration of the Pamirs has already appeared.

At the close of this paper, it would be suitable, perhaps, tomention a small piece of work which an individual student cancontribute to the results of the Second Polar Year. Fifty years ago,at the time of the First Polar Year, it did not occur to anyone toissue a map showing the extent of geophysical knowledge of thePolar Basin at that period. In the Second Polar Year, however,the Polar Year Committee of the Union approved of this idea, and Iwas entrusted with the task of constructing the map. There are, atthe moment, two recent maps of the Antarctic, one published bythe National Geographic Society of Washington, the other, theresult of the work of the well-known American geographer, Mr.Joerg, published by the American Geographical Society. TheNorth Polar regions, however, are not mapped on a scale com-parable to the foregoing, as the map recently issued by Mr. J.Bartholomew is on a smaller scale.

For scale we have selected 1:12,000,000 in order that the mapmay be sufficiently detailed and at the same time not inconvenientin size. To serve its purpose, it has been completed with hypso-metrical and bathymetrical lines. For the American sector, thanksare due to Mr. Joerg and the American Geographical Society andto certain Canadian institutions. For Greenland and Iceland,I have obtained material from Mr. Norlund, Director of theDanish Geodetic Institute. But the greatest geographical andgeophysical changes occur undoubtedly in the area of the SovietUnion. The northern part of its territory has indeed beenalmost completely rediscovered as a result of the extensiveexploration achieved. Whole river systems, such as the Kolymawith its tributaries, have had to be shifted on the map somethree hundred kilometres eastward. The outlines of the coastsand of archipelagoes such as those of Northern Land are quitechanged.

The bathymetrical contouring of the seas is based upon thelatest results of such expeditions as those of the Marion, the Meteor,the Nautilus, the Krassin and other Soviet vessels. The land contourlines have also been brought up to date in the light of our mostrecent observations.

Since the map owes its origin to the International Polar Year,its notes are given in two languages, Russian and English. Thetranscription of Russian names into Latin characters is carried outaccording to the rules of the Russian State Geographical Society.It is hoped that the map will be ready for publication during 1935 :once issued, it will be a permanent record of our knowledge at the

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84 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

time of the Second International Polar Year, and, we may hope,will give further impetus to scientific research.

NOTES1 In September 1935, the ice-breaker Sadko discovered Oushakov Island and found

that it, together with Lonely Island and Wiese Island, lat. 80° 59´ N., long. 79o 20´ E., aresituated on a submarine ridge, dividing the Kara Sea into two deep separate furrows.One furrow is between Franz Josef Land and this ridge, and the other between it andNorthern Land on the east. The Sadko in 1935 reached lat. 82o 42´ N., a little north-westof Northern Land. This is the northernmost point ever reached by a ship in the ArcticOcean. It was found that the continental slope here is extremely steep. At this highnorthern latitude 2635 metres were sounded. The cold and less saline surface layer wasonly 100 metres thick, and under it lay a thick saline layer of Atlantic water with atemperature of +2·6° C. In Nansen's time, the temperature of this under layer was+2·2° C. The plankton obtained from the deep water was the same as was found inAugust in the deep warm layer of the Greenland Sea.

This discovery confirms all the previous suppositions of our oceanographers, thatconditions in the Arctic Ocean are now completely other than those found by Nansenand the Fram Expedition. The ocean has been extensively warmed.

The other very important piece of work of the Sadko cruise in 1935 consisted in thediscovery of the edge of the continental shelf and of the deep furrow west of NorthernLand with saline and warm Atlantic water. This proves that the warm saline waters ofthe under-current of the Arctic Ocean penetrated to the deeper parts of the NorthSiberian shelf seas, which thus influenced the ice-condition of these shallow seas.

A very interesting set of geo-physical investigations was taken during the SadkoExpedition by the geodesist I. Jongolovitch. Using the Veiningen-Meins pendulum,he was able to obtain data on gravity in forty-eight points in the open sea. At the mostnortherly station of the ship (lat. 82° 42´ N., long. 87o 4´ E.), the observations were madeat the depth of 2300 metres. If we remember that during the voyage of the Fram onlyfive determinations of gravity were made, we can clearly see the value of these observa-tions to the geo-physicists. Further, at fourteen points on shore, Jongolovitch achievedmagnetical determinations.

2 The voyages of the Chelyuskin from west to east, and of the ice-breakers Lutka,Ermak, Krassin and others in 1934, made it possible to continue the exploration of theSiberian shelf seas. During the navigation season of 1935, four ice-breakers worked, anda total of seventy-seven ships navigated the North Siberian coast. Four ships accom-plished the through navigation from the Pacific to the Atlantic or vice versa.

A NEW VIEW OF SOME FAMILIAR INDIANRAINFALLS

By H. A. MATTHEWS, Ph.D., Lecturer in Geography,Birkbeck College, London

(With Diagrams)

THE inadequacy of mean monthly rainfall data in any view of therainfall conditions of India is so patent, that no apology is necessaryfor an attempt to amplify and perhaps to clarify information onthe actual incidence of precipitation by a simple, graphical de-monstration. The method of presentation is inspired by Crowe'sinvaluable and stimulating discussion of rainfall variability inEurope.1 The labour of plotting the data incidental to the con-struction of the graphs was undertaken by Mr. E. M. Legg, of theGeography Department, Birkbeck College. The stations used are

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