New lands within the Arctic circle: Narrative of the discoveries of the Austrian ship "Tegetthoff" in the years 1872-1874Payer, Julius
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New lands within the Arctic circle: Narrative of the discoveries of the Austrian ship "Tegetthoff" in the years 1872-1874
Payer, Julius
Admiral Tegetthoff (Ship); Arctic regions; Franz Josef Land (Russia) -- Discovery and exploration
10. The glacier ice of Franz-Josef Land was far less dense than the
glacier ice of East Greenland; whence it appears that movement, as a
factor in the structure of the glacier, predominates in Franz-Josef-Land
more than the factor of regelation. Even at the very end of the glaciers,
granules an inch long are distinctly traceable in its layers, and in
the _névé_ region especially the glacier ice is exceedingly porous. The
great tendency of the climate of Franz-Josef Land to promote glaciation
is manifested in the fact, that all the smaller islands are covered with
glaciers with low rounded tops, so that a section through them would
present a regular defined segment of a circle; hence many ice-streams
descending from the summits of the plateaus spread themselves over the
mountain-slopes and need not to be concentrated in valleys and hollows
in order to become glaciers. Yet many glaciers occur—the Middendorf
Glaciers, for example—whose vertical depth amounts to many hundred
feet. Their fissures and the height of the icebergs show this. It was
unfortunately impossible for us to explore the Dove Glacier, the largest
of all we saw, owing to its great distance from the line of our route.
Evaporation from the surface of the glacier goes on with great intensity
during those summer months when the daylight is continual, and deep
water-courses show that streams of thaw-water then flow over it.
11. The comparison of the temperature of the air within the crevasses
of the glaciers with the external air, invariably proved, that within
the crevasses the temperature was higher. The traces of liquefaction in
the glacier during winter, arising from the warmth of the earth, could
not be observed, because the sides and under-edge of the glaciers were
inaccessible from the enormous masses of snow, and the icicles of the
terminal arches and precipices could be ascribed only to the freezing of
the thaw-water of the preceding summer.
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