Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-11
81 More Ice Islands
Found in North Cunudu
Floating Arctic Archipelago
Is Like q Northern Sahara

roaring ATcrlc archipelago
Is Like d Northern Sohoro
By Thomas R. Henry
Thirty-one more lice islands" have
been found in the Canadian Arctic.
An ice island is slowly drifting mass
of very thick ice which has all the sur
face features-hills, valleys, lakes.
river baSins-of an ice-covered land
island.
They are very different from icebergs.
An iceberg is a broken-off chunk Of
glacier. However large it may be. it
still is just floating cake of ice. An
ice island is probably geographers still
are not in agreement-part of an ice
shelf once contiguous with continent
or large island. Such shelf may be
several thousand years old. It has
existed long enough for all the geolog-
ical processes that take place on con-
tinents to have proceeded. The result
is an ice model-on miniature scale
of land surface.
The first ice island was found by
United States Air Force pilots in the
Beaufort Sea just north of Alaska
shortly after the war and for some
years was kept secret. 1t was supposed
to be hitherto unknown land mass of
about 60 square miles until further OBJ
seryationS showed it to be drifting
slowly away from its first position.
80 Others Located.
In the next two or three years, about
80 other objects of the same sort were
located on air photographs. There was
brief announcement in 1850 which at
tracted little notice until report giving
the location of all the known floating
islands was published by the Arctic In
stitute Of North America last summer.
This may be considered one of the most
significant geographical reports of re-
cent times. the announcement Of q
hitherto unsupported phenomenon Of
the planets surface.
Since then there has been an inten-
sive search for evidence of other ice
islands in photographs taken over the
Arctic archipelago by both American
and Canadian pilots. This has resulted
in putting 81 more of the islands on
the map, according to new report
issued by the Arctic Institute.
All these new islands are small. The
largest is only about three square miles
in area. Most significant are the loca-
lions, indicating the existence at some
time of great ice shelves, particularly
off the coast of Axel Heiberg Island,
which is one of the nearest land areas
to the North Pole. Others were found
of the west coast of Prince Patrick Is
land, westernmost of the Arctic archi-
pelago.
Arctic Sahara.
The Arctic archipelago north of Cam
ada is a veritable northern Sahara.
Most of the islands would be seas of
wind-blown sand were it not for the
ice which covers them.
This is brought out in the report of
DR.. r. w. Rae, director for several years
Of the joint Canadian United States
Weather station on CORVALLIS Island
in the Canadian Arctic, which has just
been published by the Canadian govern
ment.
New observations have reinforced to
an astonishing degree, according to an
abstract of DR.. Rae's work in the jour-
nal of the Arctic Institute, the realiza-
very dry. At one station, for example.
total precipitation over four years av-
eraged only liza inches a year. This
often is exceeded in a single day al
most anywhere in the eastern United
States. Fresh snow amounted to only
Is inches year. The average annual
snowfall in Montreal is 112 inches.
The depths of cold, the observations
show. vary greatly from place to place.
The cold pole of the North American
Arctic now is placed in northern Files
mere Island, where January is believed
to have mean temperature of 40
below. Mean temperatures for the
same period range around 80 below
for most of the area. This probably Is
about what could be expected at the
North Pole. The cold pole of the world
long has been located in northern ST.
IBERIA. At several stations in the Cana
dian Arctic mean January tempera-
lures range around mild 20 below.
Cloudy Cycle.
There is an annual cycle of cloudi-
ness over the area, the observations
show. In spring and early summer
there is widespread sea fog over the
whole region. This tends to break up
with the long days of constant sun
shine. only to reform as temperatures
sink below freezing in the autumn
Autumn cloudiness is also partly due
to the trapping of moist, chilled air
high in the atmosphere just before the
point is reached where temperatures
begin to increase with altitude.
But most of the time the islands are
covered with gloomy. overcast skies
which take the charm from some of the
most spectacular scenery on the planet.
some of which never yet has been
visited by explorers.