Evening star., 1953-09-16
US. Expedition Reveals
New Polar Phenomena
Measurements Indicate
Underseu Mountain Runqe
By Thomos R. Henry

An undersea mountain range may
run across the Arctic Ocean from the
northern coast of Ellesmere Land in
the Canadian Arctic to the New Siberia
islands north of Asia. The probable
course of such q range would carry
1t about 100 miles west of the North
Pole.
This is one of the findings reported
to the American Geophysical Union
here by DR.. L. v. Worthington of the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
which took part in the Navy's Opera
ton Skijump, the object of which was
to determine as much as possible Of
Arctic circulation and something about
the sea floor. -
Measurements were made from air
craft landing on ice. One finding was
that the circulation of the polar sea
is extremely complicated. On one side
Of the basin, north Of Alaska, lies the
Beaufort Sea. There is difference
between bottom temperatures of this
section Of the Arctic and the polar
basin to the east which can be partially
explained if there is nearly continu-
Gus submarine ridge dividing the ocean
A4AVO OWV AdANVos GOuAiA~
ings by the Skijump observers also give
some indication of the existence Of
such high ridge. ..s..
Arctic Is True Ocean
The Arctic Ocean consists chiefly
of a deep basin with the North Pole
approximately in the center. It is q
true ocean. per, Sc. and not Just an ex-
tension Of the Pacific and the Atlantic,
as are the Antarctic Seas.
The water circulation in this basin,
which also affects the surface ice, Is
quite complicated. The basin was dis
covered in 1893 by the Norwegian ex-
plorer Nansen. He deliberately allowed
his ship. the Fran, to be- frozen into
the ice field and drifted for three
years from point north of the New
Siberia Islands, across the eastern half
Of the basin to a point north Of
Spitzbergen. ~'-~
Somewhat similar was the experience
Of Russian expedition which landed
in plane near the North Pole in 1887
and drifted with the ice for 274 days.
It finally was taken off its ice foe
by ship when it was coming perilously
NAOoO w WIG ORNAA oCb CcOV va 14SOAA-
land. Later the Russian icebreaker
Sedov roughly paralleled the course Of
the Fran.
The Arctic is fed largely by the
great northWard-flowing rivers Of ST.
IBERIA and North America. These give
it, on the whole, low salt content.
Nansen found salinity values to in
crease as he got farther away from the
Siberian coast. Beneath this north
polar water, as 1t was called by Nam
sen, is a thick layer of much Saltier
water which flows in from the Atlantic
Ocean, probably somewhere west Of
Spitzbergen.
Curious Variations. ...
There are curious variations in water
temperatures below the ice. The inflow
from the North Atlantic is fairly warm
and some time is required for thorough
mixing the report points out.
One of the objects of the Skijump
project. sponsored by the Office Of
Naval Research, was to obtain data on
the circulation of the western polar
Nansen and the Russians for the east
ern. curious finding was that aver
age bottom temperature on the Beau
fort Sea side was about half degree
warmer than that on the other side
of the postulated undersea ridge.
Water soundings were quite difficult.
It was necessary to land on the ice and
bore holes with a five-horsepower. gaso-
line-driven posthole digger. This could
bore a hole about a foot in diameter
through five feet of ice in about 10
minutes. Through these holes were
lowered bottles for collection of samples.