Evening star., 1941-01-19

zeal Ntdbi4t4- dILI tIldA chtl L4-S ak 44Oy
so frequent over the iCe-locked sea as
supposed.
The basin is UNIQUE formation It
is a depression, 10000 feet deep At its
lowest point, which slopes down from
the level tundra Of Siberia and North
ern America. From the fat slopes,
broken in sections by the high hills
Of Arctic islands and the elevations Of
Arctic nlateaus lust behind the sea-
coast. flows warm air which modlfie7
the Arctic climate in the middle &
the icy circle in which lies the North
Pole.
The shores Of the basin are perhaps
the most nonotonous lan6-Cane in the
world There is little veoeta+ior, only
a squashv upper crust in which feet
sink to the ankles in midsummer be-
fore the everlasting ice Is met There
is little life. perhaps few eealz or
polar bears. and jus: inside the shore
line the fora stunted bv the frost
But the land Is warm during the r'n1-
mer. and this has its effect on the
Arctic ice pack.
The ice pack is ore Of the unnredic-
table problems of the Arctic. It NAV
remain thick and solid during ? year
when there are southern winds blowing
the ice northvard and forcing it to-
gether 1t may be dispersed under local
storms which push it grinding and iar-
ming for hundreds Of miles in any d.
rection, opening leads which send their
moisture inward TO make fog.
The men who will sit on the ice near
the Pole to carry on their observations
may learn more of polar weather move
ments and the bulges that force out
the cold air currents which so influence
the climate in the temperate zone
They will face the danger Of ice break
ing under them. for the mack Is alwavs
moving and If it narted nuiok1v t7'o7'
nioht lose some or al Of thNir pro-
visions and irs+rumer's
Since conditions rear the Pole dc
not make for satisfactorv airn'are
base. If is obvious that the adventurere
ave seekinq KNOWLEDGE Of fvinr con-
ditions rather than irving n establish
a refueling station Modern flying tech
ninue will aid them in their eventual
effort to omen the polar sea for no
longer do the pilots Of lonC-distance
planes remain near the surface their
engines function better at hioh attitudes
where the temperature are more nearIv
static and where winds are less capri
cious
But nerhans the most fasciratir- as
oect Of the conternlqted venture Is
tho v'ov IN vl'i"'' modern ire'rrroor+v
are 70 be BROUGHT to a tasl, which deend
mankind for centuries. Mailing ora's
vav on foot over the ice as Pearv DID,
or dritting through the polar nack as
did Nansen. is p much more labor'ous
affair than fving over the oack swiftly
with tho aid Of radio All the progress
o' ''v"drnde of wears IN nenetra+ine
the polar pack seems as nothing COM
pared 10 what has been ACCOMPLISHED
since Peary made his famous discovery.
X
Up TO that time men gambled their
lives on trjDs which took years and
usually ended In failure. often In dis
aster From the davs Of Franklin. who
perished with all his men In an at
tempt to find the Northwest Passage
the North for generations was place
Of peril and cruel hardship The i'll
fated Greelv expedition. which starved
within reach of food showed how 1T
tie men then knew of the region where
they sought either the Pole or a pas
sage to the West
And then came Nordenskjold, who
first made the Northeast Passage, and
Pearv who reached the Pole after learn
ing TO live and travel In the manner
OF Eskimos; and Nansen, who turned
his brilliant mind to the construction
of suitable ship and drifted across
the sea not far from the Pole, who
taught the proper methods Of attacking
the problem with the tools available.
They discovered much, and practically
exploded the theory that there was q
polar continent. Some of them even
looked forward to the day when 70
would be possible to fly through the
air, and DO in few hours what on foot
and by ship took months and years of
labor That dream may now come true.
+oo ,,on,