Evening star., 1955-02-11
Greenland, Under Ice,
Is Shaped Like q Bowl
If All It's Ice Were Melted,
Seas Would Rise so Feet
By Thomos R. Henry

Seas Would Rise so Feet
By Thomas R. Henry
Greenland is q gigantic bowl with Q
cracked rim of three mountain ranges.
A map" of the land surface of the
worlds largest island. buried for mil
lion years under two miles Of ice. has
resulted from exploration over the past
six years by French explorers led by a
former United States Air Force oficer,
Paul E. Victor
During this work, 9.70O miles Of new
trails across the icecap have been blazed
in many directions. Along the way
seismic depth soundings have been
made every ten miles. BY echoes
reflected through the ice from the un-
derlying bedrock estimates of ice thick
ness accurate within q few feet were
feasible.
Soundings made at $50 stations to
date, Mr.. Victor says, essentially have
stripped the ice" for mapping purposes
from an area Of the earths surface
three times as big as Texas. They have
made it possible to estimate with some
accuracy the total volume Of the icecap
q million cubic miles. If this were
distributed equally over the whole sur
face of the earth. 1t would constitute an
ice shell SO feet thick.
If the Ice Melts. 80.
If this ice should melt, as is almost
sure to happen eventually although not
soon enough to worry anybody now
alive, it would raise the sea level all over
the earth by 60 feet. Before anybody
starts exploding atomic bombs on
Greenland" Mr.. Victor says, "they had
better think twice and find out what
the Florida Chamber Of Commerce
thinks about it,
A 60-foot rise in sea level is a mini
mum estimate, he explains, from the in
crease OF water due to melting of the ice
alone. Quite likely it would be three
times as great. The weight of the ice
now depreSSes the whole interior of the
island approximately to sea level. If
the weight were removed it would rise,
probably form a continuous land mass
with Iceland and Scandinavia and raise
the sea level by putting more land in
the sea.
oACCAluAO 40 WILL llOulA.
tain ranges, the SUBMITS of those on the
east and west coasts being free of ice.
The range running east and west across
the northern part of the island is under
the ice sheet.
Mr.. Victor's seismic Soundings have
revealed still another very high noun
tain range, completely buried and run
ming parallel to the east coast range,
from which it is separated by deep
valley.
Otherwise the picture given by the
soundings is that of deep bowl, just
below sea level at it's deepest. 1t appears
generally featureless, but this is what
might be expected from the crushing
effect of the ice on hills, low noun
tain ranges and valleys.
Two Chasms Found.
A striking feature, however, is con-
stituted by two deep chasms, Is to 25
miles wide, in the bedrock which start
from about 10 degrees north latitude on
the west coast and run eastward for an
unknown distance. The bottoms of
these chasms are TOO feet below sea
level. They may extend across the en-
VIC Iold4lu, DuI Ml. tICGOI UclcVeS CIllS
is unlikely.
Two areas of Greenland are now
relatively ice-free-an area along the
west coast extending north and south
from the capital village of Godhaab and
an area in the extreme north Of about
the same size, Peary Land. The west
coast area was the part settled by Ice
landers approximately 1000 years ago
when the climate must have been much
better. 1t supported cattle herds and
apple orchards.
The northern area, Peary Land, is
partially grass covered and supports
musk oxen. He has been unable, Mr..
Victor says, to throw any light on the
reason for this ice-free land just under
the North Pole. but he suggests that it
probably is due to some curious geo.
logical conf1guration as is the cele-
brated antarctic oasis discovered by
Admiral Richard E. Byrd's last
expedition.
Although the present evidence is that
the Greenland icecap is melting, Mr..
Victor says, the process is so slow and
intermittent that it probably will re-
quire at least $4,000 years. period far
greater than human history.
Financed by French.
1t might. he admits. be accelerated
by ill-considered attempts to meddle
with the weather.
MIR. Victor's Greenland expeditions
have been financed two-thirds by the
French National Research Council and
one-third by private donations. A staff
in Paris now is at work on interpreta-
ton and publication of the scientific
findings but several years will be re-
quired before this work is completed.
The nearly 10000 miles of new trails
were covered with tractored snow
vehicles. In 1886, Mr.. Victor made his
first crossing of the icecap by dog sled.