Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-01-05
70 PERPETUAL SNO
Even in Iceland There Is But Lie
in Summer.
only the LOftiest Mountain Peaks
May BE Said to Have an Ever
lasting Coat Of
White.

A recent writer made the mistake OF
referring to all arctic lands as tucked
in under their everlasting blanket OF
snow" We know, however, of no land
area lying near the sea level that is per-
petually covered with snow, says a Chi
cago paper.
Mr.. Peary, the only visitor to the most
northern land yet discovered, found
flowers and grass there, and killed arctic
game that had fattened on the heritage
of the islands lying north of the ex-
IRENE coasts of Greenland. Spitzbergen
is one of the bleakest parts of the world,
yet during the long summer day, when
the sun is continually above the hori-
zon, all the winter SHOWS along the
southern valleys melt away up to 1900
feet above the sea.
Very little snow can be found in Ice
land in summer, the line of perpetual
snow being about 1000 feet on the north
ern and 1000 feet on the southern side
of the mountains. Along the coast c.
west Greenland the white mantle of
winter disappears in summer and grass
oAu hOWCAO oAO AO0AO W a ACA6AN Va
1000 feet.
AS for the great arctic plains of the
northern part of this continent they are,
of course, entirely free from snow dur
ing the summer months. Vegetable life
tAus has a chance in all parts of the
world, unless the elevation is so high
above the sea that winter polar condi-
tons are maintained the year round.
There are, of course, lofty elevations,
such as mountains and the ice cap OF
Greenland, that are pe~rpetually COW
cred with snow. Geographers have
| given much attention to what is called
| the snow line, or the line which marks
the limit of perpetual o Its posi-
ton is chiefly dependent upon the sum-
mer 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 irregu-
larly along most surfaces because many
mountain valleys, canyons and slopes
are shielded from the sun. and so are
snow covered the year around far be-
low the general snow line. This is not
the case, however, in tropical regions.
where there is little difference in tenn
perature throughout the year below the
attitudes where frost always reigns.
The result is that in the tropics the snow
line on the mountains is a comparative
ly straight line.
Of course the perpetual boundary OF
snow approaches nearer to sea level the
farther north or south we go from the
tropics. The snow line on Mount st.
Elias, in Alaska, is 1900 feet above sea
level, while farther south, in the region
of the Selkirks, British Columbia, 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
Etna, some hundreds of miles nearer
to the equator, it is 1912 feet; on Po-
pocatepetl, in Mexico, it is 1900 feet.
and on Aconcagua, in Argentina, it is
IA, 800 feet. And as we continue south
the snow line sinks again nearer to the
sea level-3,600 feet at Magellan straits
and $500 feet in TERRA del Fuego.
In the northern hemisphere, where the
southern slopes of the mountains re-
ceive the lions share of the suns ray
the snow line lies lower on the northern
| slopes. Thus the line of perpetual snow
on the northern slope of Mont Blanc
is about 5000 feet, while on the south
ern slope, overlooking Italy, it is 10, 600
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 Himalayas.
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 Is, 900 feet above sea level, while
on the northern and eastern sides it is
over is, 900 feet.
AS ice melts. much more slowly thar
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 IS feet above the sea.
In the temperate regions glaciers de-
scend far below the snow line. Thus the
lower limit of glaciers on Mont Blanc is
1900 feet; among the Canadian Rock
les, 5000 feet; on Acancagua, 1900 feet,
and on the southern island of New Zea-
land the glacier ends are only $50 feet
above the sea, while the snow line is
$500 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 ten
acious, and is bound to exist wherever
there is the slightest chance for it.
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