Evening star., 1951-03-02
Huge Ice Cap Blankets
Center of Buffin Lund
Scientific Exploration Made
Of MiIIion-Yeur-OId Desert
By Thomos r. Henry

An isolated ice cap nearly 1000
square miles in area, one of the four
or five largest on earth, covers the
center of Bafin Land. largest Of the
Arctic Islands north of Canada.
The first scientific exploration Of this
great ice desert millions Of years old
has just been made by an expedition
sponsored by the Arctic Institute Of
North America with funds provided by
the United States Government the
Royal Canadian Air Force and the
Canadian Geological Survey, the Swiss
Foundation for Alpine Research and
the Canadian Geographical Society. A
preliminary report has just been made
by DR.. p. D. Baird Of the Arctic In
stitute.
One Of the first known of Arctic
lands, the great island has remained
almost unknown scientifically and no
systematic work has been carried out on
the great ice cap, smaller model of
the Greenland and Antarctic caps. 1t
has been crossed a few times; but for
the most part. towering high in the
air, 1t has been observed only from a
distance. Necessarily an almost COM
pletely lifeless place. it rises to an ele-
F0t1on VI Acdl1y Lille.
Glacier 400 Feet Thick.
The explorations show that it Is
blanket OF ice about 400 feet thick. It
Is dense glacier ice, covered with about
yard of current snow. This snow is
remarkably uniform in thickness. due
to the steady winds blowing over the
ice which spread it out evenly. The cap
is crossed by great crevasses. Glaciers
crawl from It's edges like tentacles From
the sides torrential rivers pour during
the brief summer
Careful measurements were made of
the speed Of ice flow and of ice tenn
peratureS at various depths
Around the ice cap Bafin Island is
mountainous and some Of the most
difficult peaks were scaled by the Swiss
mountaineers.
The expedition operated from three
main camps. Reports of the various
scientific groups now are being analyzed
All but ten per cent Of Canada now
has been mapped from the air.
Fairly reliable charts have been pre-
pared covering approximately 4,576,60O
square miles. This adds up to more
than the total land mass of the
dominion. but the fact Is accounted for
by Implications.
Biggest Map Job.
This progress has just been reported,
through the Arctic Institute of North
America, by the RCAF which has taken
the photographs from which the maps
have been constructed. It probably is
the biggest map-making job ever under
taken. Future work will be devoted
largely to improving details.
Most Of the Canadian territory still
unmapped is in the Arctic Islands whose
interiors are uninhabited and seldom
visited. Past maps were based largely
on the reports of observations by ex-
plorers and on sketches. The new OBJ
servations show them to have been quite
far from reality. New islands have been
located where only open water was
portrayed before and bays and noun
tainS have been found in quite different
positions than they were supposed to
occupy.
Large areas now are accurately
mapped which probably will not be
entered on the ground for couple of
generations. The job might well have
required a century with ordinary
methods of surveying.
Highly complicated techniques have
been worked transferring to maps details
shown in the photographs. The pictures
serve other purposes also. They have
proved to be useful in mineral explora-
ton, In water power development, and
in forest and agricultural surveys. They
have made it possible to reduce flying
time to a minimum through much of the
far north.