The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-10-03

details of Arctic tides, il ia n foot Tho.
nofmaly OF modest range, and yet in some parts
anu IAN is considerably less than it
should be If the water were free to circulate from
shore to shore or from side To side ~ tba Arctic
2asln. indeed, so we are told by r. A. Harris of
the united States coast and geodetic survey. "at
bennett island at Teplitz bay, Franz Josef land.
range OF the diurnal wave has about one-half
OF the magnitude which the tidal forces acting
over an uninterrupted Arctic basin would pro-
duce. In other words, the normal or theoretical
now Is somehow impeded, and the question is,
What is the nature and the extent of this OBJ
struction or series of tidal checks?
The semidaily tides found in the Arctic ocean
are derived almost entirely from those of the
North Atlantic, because the semi-daily forces van
ish at the pole and are very small in the higher
ATTITUDES" Mr.. Harris continues. 1T is a case
of getting near the hub of a wheel These tides
enter the Arctic ocean proper by way of the
strait lying between Spitzbergen and the eastern
coast Of northern Greenland. They are propa-
gated through the Arctic to the New Siberian
islands, the average rise and fall at Bennett is
land being 2.5 feet.
Nov upon the assumption of an uninterrupted
Arctic basin the tides at Point Barrow and at
Flaxman island could not differ greatly In size
from the tides which would, upon the same as
sumption, be found at Bennett island. But as a
matter of fact the rise and fall of the semidaily
tide is GA foot at Point Barrow and 0.5 at Flax
man island"
but the presence OIL an OBSTRUCTION, assuming
the water for the tidal movement to come, as Mr..
Harris says, from the Atlantic ocean via the
passage between the northeastern coast Of Green
land and Spitzbergen, is further evidenced by the
directions in which the ebb and the flood tides
flow. If no barrier existed to the free movement
of the flood from east to west then the ebb would
run east to the outlet between the two points
mentioned. In short, it would leave by the short
est route to the original point of entry into the
Arctic basin.
Other records are available that help to bear
out Mr.. Harris argument in favor of a vast I'M
charted continent or extended group of big is
lands of which Croker land is but a part. In
September. 1879, the Arctic exploring craft Jean
nette was caught by the ice and frozen In near
Wrangel island, where the Karluk's men are now
marooned. She was carried by the ebb tide along
with the ice to the westward until she sank on
June ~, 1881, to the northeast of Bennett island.
Again, Nansen's Fran was frozen in to the
eastward of Bennett island on September %,
1898, and after drifting generally westward got
clear on July 10, 1896, at a point nearly due north
of Spitzbergen. Now let us see what happened to
the Karluk.
On October 6, last year. Stefansson's ship was
swept from her anchorage by a gale and carried
off shore at a point northeast of Barter island
near Manning point. There she was caught by
the Arctic pack, from which 1t was impossible to
break her loose, and thence she, too, drifted to
the observation-disclosures westward-until crushed
and sent to the bottom north of Wrangel island