Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1903-12-25
LINE OF PERPETUAL SNOW.
In No Part of the World Does II Come
All the Way Down to the Sea.

A recent writer made the mistake OF
referring to all Arctic lands as tucked
in under the everlasting blankeI os
snow" We know, however, OF no land
area lying near the sea level that IS
per petually covered with snow.
Mr.. Peary, the only visitor to the
most northern land yet discovered.
found flowers and grass there. and kill
ed Arctic game that had fattened on
the heritage of the islands lying north
of the extreme northern coasts of
Greenland. Spitzbergen is one Of the
bleakest parts of the world; get. during
the long summer day, when the sun IS
continually above the horizon, all the
winter SHOWS along the routherr val
leys melt away up to 1900 feet above
the sea.
Very little snow can be found IN Ice
land in summer the line Of perpetual
sncw being about 1000 fee; on the
northern and 4,0OG feet on The south
err side of the mountains. Along the
coast of west Greenland the white
mantle of winter disappears in sum
mer and grass and flowers are found
to a height of 1000 feet.
AS for the great Arctic plains of the
are of course entirely free from snow
during the summer months. Vegetable
life thus has a chance in all parts Of
the world. unless the elevation is 50
high above the sea that winter polar
conditions are maintained the year
round.
There are, of course, lofty eleva-
tions, such as mountains and the ice
Of
covered with snow. Biographies have
given much attention 70 what is called
the snow line. or the line which marks
the limit of perpetual snow. It's posi-
ton is chiefly dependent up1n the
summer temperature and the depth Of
the winter snowfall. The line along
which the sun ceases to melt the
snow is the snow line.
The snow line extends very jireGu-
larry along most surfaces because
many mountain valleys. canons and
slopes are shielded from the sun and
so are snow covered the year around
far below the general snow line. This
is not the case, however, in tropical
regions where there is little difference
in temperature throughout the year
below the attitudes where frost always
reigns. The result is that in the trop-
les the snow line on the mountains is
a comparatively straight line.
OF course, the perpetual boundary of
snow approaches nearer to sea level
the farther north or south we so from
The tropics. The snow line on Mount
St. Elias in Alaska IS $500 feet above
sea level. while farther south, in the
region of the Selkirks, British Column
bia. the snow line is at an elevation of
$500 feet.
In the Bernese Alps the limit of per-
petual snow is $500 feet; on Mount
Ftna. some hundreds of miles nearer
tc the equator it is 9,912 feet; on Pop
ccatepeti in Mexico it is 1900 feet;
and on Aconoagua in Argentina it is
1880 feet. And as we continue south
the snow line sinks again nearer to
the sea level: $500 feet at Magellan
Straits and $500 feet in TERRA del
Fuego.
In the northern hemisphere, where
the southern slopes of the mountains
receive the lions share of the suns
RAYS. the snow line lies lower on the
northern slopes. Thus the line of per-
petual snow on the northern slope of
Mount Blanc is about 5000 feet. while
ON the southern slope. overlooking It
ally. it is 10000 feet above the sea. For
this reason the hamlets of the natives
are built higher on the southern than
on the northern slopes of the Hima-
layas.
On Mount Kilimanjaro, a little south
of the equator in East Africa, where
the sun is almost vertical over it, the
snow line on the southern and western
sides is $1,000 feet above the sea, level,
while on the northern and eastern
sides it is over $1,000 feet.
AS ice meIts much more slowly than
snow. many glaciers move down to the
sea. while the snow line nowhere
reaches the ocean. This is the case in
Spitzbergen, Greenland, at Mount st.
Elias, and, in fact. in nearly all lands
within or quite near the polar regions.
In Iceland no glaciers descend lower
than sixty-five feet above the sea.
In the temperate regions glaciers
descend far below the snow line. Thus
the lower limit of glaciers on Mount
Blanc is $500 feet; among the Canad-
ian Rockies. $500 feet; on Aconcagua.
1900 feet: and on the southern island
of New Zealand the glacier ends are
only 800 feet above the sea, while the
snow line is 1900 feet.
But just as we see plants struggling
for life in almost every crack and
crevice of the rocks, so the hardest
specimens of vegetation cling to the
mountain sides up to the very limit of
perpetual snow. Life in many forms
is very tenacious. and is bound to ex-
list wherever there is the slightest
chance for It.
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