The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-02-04

Dy the perpendicular IrOntS OF nuge
glaciers, while in some places the
ice comes down in broad projections
close to the margin of the sea.
All Of these glaciers are making
their way to the sea, and as their
ends are forced out into the water,
they are broken off and set adrift as
bergs. This process is called calving.
The size of the pieces set adrift
varies greatly, but berg from 80 to
100 feet to the top of its walls, whose
spires and pinnacles may reach from
200 to 250 feet in height and whose
length may be from 800 to 500
yards, is considered an ordinary size
in the Arctic. The measurements
above apply to the part above the
water, which is about one eighth or
one ninth of the whole mass. Many
authors give the depth under the
water as being or nine eight times
the height above; this is incorrect,
as measurements above and below
the water should be referred to mass
and not to height.
Bergs are being formed all the
year around, but in greater numbers
during the summer season; and thou
sands are set adrift each year. Once
adrift in the Arctic, they find their
way into the Labrador Current and
begin their journey to the south
ward. 1t is not an unobstructed
drift, but one attended with many
stoppages and mishaps. Many
ground in the Arctic Basin and
break up there; others reach the shor-
es of Labrador, where from one end
to the other they continually ground
and float; some break up and disap-
pear entirely. while others get safely
last and reach the Grand Bank.
The whole coast of Labrador is cut
up by numerous islands, bays, and
headlands, shoals and reefs, which
makes the journey of all drift long
one, and adds greatly to the destruc-
ton of the bergs by stoppages and
by causing them to break up. Dis
lntegration is also hastened by their
breaking away from the floe ice, for
detached bergs will melt and break
up rapidly even in high latitudes
during the summer.
RS Not all bergs made III any one
season find their way south during
the following one. for only small
percentage of them ever reach trans
Atlantic routes. So many DELAYS
attend their journey, and so irreg
ular and erratic is it that many bergs
seen in any one season may have
been made several years before. If
bergs on their calving at once
drifted to the southwark and met
with no distractions, their journey
of 200 or 800 miles would occu-
py from 4 to months, reckoning
their drifts to be 10 miles day,
which may be making it too little.
Then if bergs were liberated princi-
pally in July and August, they should
reach the transatlantic routes in
December and January, while we
know this to be the rare exception.
1t is then seen what an important
bearing the shores of Labrador have
In arresting their flow, when it is
known that bergs are generally most
plentiful in the late spring and early
summer months off the Grand Bank.
1t should not be supposed that all
bergs follow the same course when
set adrift from the parent glaciers,
for like floating bodies at the head
of the river, some will go direct to
the mouth, while others go but a
short distance and lodge, others still
will accomplish half the journey and
remain until another freshet again
floats them, so that in the end, the
debris will be composed in part of
the several years production. Bergs,
when first liberated on the west
Greenland shore, are out of the
strongest sweep of the sOutherly cur
rent, and they may take some months
to find their way out OF Davis Strait,
while again others may drift into the
current and move unobstructed until
dissipated in the Gulf Stream. The
difference in time of two bergs
reaching a low latitude, which were
set adrift the same day, may cover
a period of one or two years. Field
ice also offers an obstruction to
bergs, and close season in the Arc
tic may prevent their liberation to a
great extent, though, from their
deep submersion, they act as plows,
and aid materially in breaking up
the vast fields of ice which so often
close the Arctic Basin. Ice fields
are more affected by wind than
harps