Evening star., 1951-02-23
Air Force Producing
Synthetic Wolf Fur
NyIon Product Looks Reel,
Has Same Resistance to Wear
By Thomos R. Henry


Synthetic wolf fur now is being pro.
duced in quantity and tested by the
Air Force.
It is made of nylon. It can hardly
be distinguished from actual wolf fuf
in appearance and has about the same
resistance to wear.
There is growing demand for fur
lined garments throughout the services.
Fur is used to line parkas. fight jackets
and caps for all Arctic operations. Mean
while, wolves are becoming quite scarce
in the world. They have been nearly
exterminted in the United States in the
last few years.
Their pelts have been the best ma
terial to be had in the past, but have
had distinct drawbacks. For one thing,
they are quite expensive. They tend
to become water soaked under severe
conditions so that men do not move about
in them easily.
The nylon wolf furs cost less than a
fifth as much as the natural. They can
be made in any shapes or sizes needed.
They still, however, are in an expert
mental stage to uncover possible defects.
Tests are being conducted at temper
ature of IS below zero. Men will seldom
encounter materially lower temperatures
in either the Arctic or the Antarctic.
At the Air Material Command labora-
tories newly devised synthetic sheep
pelts also are being tested and present
indications are that they will prove as
good as those obtained from the sheep
themselves.
Parkas used in recent flights and ex-
plorations in polar regions have seldom
contained much real fur but have been
lined with synthetic material which
proved quite efficient, although not ideal,
for the purpose.
In the last World War the United
States forces sometimes appeared at O
disadvantage, compared with the enemy.
in the amount and quality Of fur avail
able for cold weather operations. A
notable feature, once the American forces
crossed the Rhine. was the enormous
fur warehouses maintained by the Ger
man Army and the Luftwaffe.
A new picture of the great ocean that
covers the top Of the world has just
been determined by DR.. II. U. Sverdrup.
director of the Norwegian Polar msti-
: tute, on the basis of the most recent
reports of explorers. He has used eSpe-
cially the data reported by Russian
explorers during the last few years.
The Arctic. he points out, now appears
to cover approximately 2.8 million square
miles. The average depth is approx
mately one mile and the maximum q
little over three miles. Calculations
based on current observations show that
there is little possibility of any major
new land discoveries in the Far North.
Until quite recently, DR.. Sverdrup
points out in a report to the Arctic In
stitute of North America, the picture
of the northern ocean has been quite
vague in the minds of most geographers.
It was difficult to say whether 1t was
really an ocean in the true sense OF the
word It now is certain that 1t is
landless stretch OF water.
The observations show, he says, that
IL is an elongated depression surrounded
by wide continental shelves. The major
axis is about 1000 miles long and runs
from the northeastern coast OF Spitz-
bergen to Alaska. The minor axis ex-
tends at right angles to this for about
800 miles. z
Of the coast of eastern Siberia the
continental shelf is about 500 miles wide
and is very shallow. AS far as 800 miles
from land the water is barely 40 feet
deep. Then it drops off very abruptly.
On the northern coast of Alaska, how
ever, the shelf is only so to 100 miles
wide.
This also may be assumed to be the
case off northern Canada, but sound
ings for this region are lacking. The
water of the Arctic, he finds. is derived
mainly from the large Canadian ana
Siberian rivers which flow into it.
An extremely complex system OF cur
rents circulates under the ice and de-
tailed studies of these now are in prog.
ress. The only major outlet appears to
be a great southward-flowing current
east of Greenland.