The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-02-04
|CEbERCS IN THE
NORTH ATLANTIC
FLOATING ICE MAY Be FOUND AROUND
NEWFOUNDLAND ANY MONTH.
The Author Gives a Detailed Account of
The Formation, Growth and Drift Of the
Icehergs Showing the Vast Distance
They Travel and Their HeadWay.
Paper read before Chautauguo by E. M

At the time of the Titanic disaster,
sailor was asked what icebergs
were composed of; and he answered
by saying ice" In the paper | am
about to read, Will try to explain
more clearly than did the sailor just
quoted; of what icebergs are formed
and from where they come.
Vessels crossing t h e Atlantic
ocean between Europe and the ports
of the United States and British
America. are liable to encounter ice
bergs or extensive fields of compact
ice, which are carried southwark
from the Arctic region by the ocean
currents. 1t is in the vicinity of
the Great Bank of Newfoundland
that these masses of ice appear in
the greatest numbers and drift
farthest southwark. The amount of
ice and it's location and movement
are 80 variable from year to year,
while the region occupied In Its
formation and transportation is so
vast and so little under special OBJ
servation, that no successful system
of prediction has as yet been insti-
tuted. The most that can be said
now is that after an exceptionally
open winter in the Arctic. we may
expect the ice to come south earlier
and in greater quantities. After
such a winter, the East Greenland
current starts the ice around Cape
Farewell from one to three months
earlier, and this advancing of the
season is reflected by correspond
ing advance in the Labrador Cur
rent and on the Newfoundland Bank.
The greatest calving at the glaciers
of Greenland follows the breaking
up of the shore ice. and hence the
bergs also start southwark earlier
and with more freedom after an
open winter. In April, May and
June, from 1904 to 1913. icebergs
were seen as far south as latitude
$40 degrees and so minutes and as
far east as longitude 3S degrees
west. (This would be as far south
as Va. coast.) Exceptional drifts
have occurred almost down to lati-
tude 80 degrees north, and between
10 degrees and Is degrees west, in
these months as well as during other
seasons of the year. Between New
foundland and the fortieth parallel
floating ice may be found in any
month, but not often between Au-
gust andl December. On the Great
Bank of Newfoundland, bergs gen.
orally move southwark. Those that
drift westward off Cape Race usu
ally pass between Green and St.
Pierre banks. The Virgin Rocks
are usually surrounded by ice until
the middle of April or the beginning
of May. Most of the bergs which
annually appear in the North Allan
tic, originate on the western coast
of Greenland; few come from the
east coast and from Hudson Bay.
A small but productive glacier in
southern Greenland yields the blu
ish bergs which are so hard to see
at night. The largest bergs come
from Umanak Fjord and Disko Bay,
Lat; 50 degrees to II degrees) and
their height above the water will
rise to 500 it,, but as they lose in
mass from that time on, one can
hardly expect to find them of such
gigantic height when they appear
near the Newfoundland Bank.
A huge ice sheet. formed from
compressed snow, covers the whole
of the Interior of Greenland. The
surface of this enormous glacier,
only occasionally interrupted by
protruding mountain tops, rises
slightly towards the interior and
forms a watershed between the east
and west coasts, which is estimated
to be from 5000 to 10000 feet
above The sea.
The outskirts of Greenland, as
they are called, consists of fringe
of islands, mountains, and promon-
tories surrounding the vast ice
covered central portion and varying
in width from a mere border up to
80 miles. Upon the west side. be-
low the parallel of 73 degrees of
latitude it has an average width Oh
about so miles and extends with
little interruption, from Cape Fare
we'll TO Melville Bay. a distance of
something over 1000 miles. Every
where this mountainous belt is pene-
trated by deep fjords, which reach