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The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2

R >> Roald Amundsen >> The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2





Registering instruments:


Two barographs.
Two thermographs.
One hair hygrograph.
A number of spare parts, and a supply of paper and ink for
seven years.



In addition, various books were taken, such as Mohn's "Meteorology,"
the Meteorological Institute's "Guide," psychrometric tables, Wiebe's
steam-pressure tables for hypsometer observations, etc.

The marine barometer, the large aneroid, and one of the barographs,
the four mercury sling thermometers, and two whole-degree standard
thermometers, were kept on board the Fram, where they were used for
the regular observations every four hours on the vessel's long voyages
backwards and forwards.

As will be seen, the shore party was thus left without mercury sling
thermometers, besides having no minimum thermometers; the three maximum
thermometers proved to be of little use. There were also various
defects in the clockwork of the registering instruments. The barographs
and thermographs have been used on all the Norwegian Polar expeditions;
the hygrograph is also an old instrument, which, in the course of
its career, has worked for over ten years in Christiania, where
the atmosphere is by no means merciful to delicate instruments. Its
clockwork had not been cleaned before it was sent to the Fram, as was
done in the case of the other four instruments. The barographs worked
irreproachably the whole time, but one of the thermographs refused
absolutely to work in the open air, and unfortunately the spindle pivot
of the other broke as early as April 17. At first the clockwork of the
hygrograph would not go at all, as the oil had become thick, and it
was not until this had been removed by prolonged severe heating (baking
in the oven for several days) that it could be set going; but then it
had to be used for the thermograph, the mechanism of which was broken,
so that no registration was obtained of the humidity of the air.

The resulting registrations are then as follows: from Framheim, one
set of barograms and two sets of thermograms, of which one gives the
temperature of the air and the other the temperature inside the house,
where the barometers and barograph were placed; from the Fram we have
barograms for the whole period from her leaving Christiania, in 1910,
to her arrival at Buenos Aires for the third time, in 1912.

Of course, none of these registrations can be taken into account in
the provisional working out, as they will require many months' work,
which, moreover, cannot be carried out with advantage until we have
ascertained about possible changes of error in the instruments. But
occasional use has been made of them for purposes of checking, and
for supplying the only observation missing in the ten months.

The meteorological station at Framheim was arranged in this way:
the barometers, barograph, and one thermograph hung inside the house;
they were placed in the kitchen, behind the door of the living-room,
which usually stood open, and thus protected them from the radiant heat
of the range. A thermometer, a hygrometer, and the other thermograph
were placed in a screen on high posts, and with louvred sides,
which stood at a distance of fifteen yards to the south-west of the
house. A little way beyond the screen, again, stood the wind-vane and
anemometer. At the end of September the screen had to be moved a few
yards to the east; the snow had drifted about it until it was only 2
1/2 feet above the surface, whereas it ought to stand at the height
of a man. At the same time the wind-vane was moved. The screen was
constructed by Lindström from his recollection of the old Fram screen.

The two mercury barometers, the Fuess normal, and the Adie standard
barometer, reached Framheim in good condition; as has been said, they
were hung in the kitchen, and the four pocket aneroids were hung by
the side of them. All six were read at the daily observations at 8
a.m., 2 p.m., and 8 p.m. The normal barometer, the instructions for
which were missing, was used as a siphon barometer, both the mercury
levels being read, and the bottom screw being locked fast; the usual
mode of reading it, on the other hand, is to set the lower level at
zero on the scale by turning the bottom screw at every observation,
whereupon the upper level only is set and read. The Adie standard
barometer is so arranged that it is only necessary to read the summit
of the mercury. It appears that there is some difference between
the atmospheric pressure values of the two instruments, but this is
chiefly due to the difficult and extremely variable conditions of
temperature. There may be a difference of as much as five degrees
(Centigrade) between the thermometers of the two barometers, in
spite of their hanging side by side at about the same height from
the floor. On the other hand, the normal barometer is not suited to
daily observations, especially in the Polar regions, and the double
reading entails greater liability of error. That the Adie barometer
is rather less sensitive than the other is of small importance, as
the variations of atmospheric pressure at Framheim were not very great.

In the provisional working out, therefore, the readings of the Adie
barometer alone have been used; those of the normal barometer,
however, have been experimentally reduced for the first and last
months, April and January. The readings have been corrected for the
temperature of the mercury, the constant error of the instrument,
and the variation of the force of gravity from the normal in latitude
45°. The reduction to sea-level, on the other hand, has not been made;
it amounts to 1.1 millimetre at an air temperature of -10° Centigrade.

The observations show that the pressure of the atmosphere is
throughout low, the mean for the ten months being 29.07 inches
(738.6 millimetres). It is lower in winter than in summer, July
having 28.86 inches (733.1 millimetres), and December 29.65 inches
(753.3 millimetres), as the mean for the month, a difference of
20.2 millimetres. The highest observation was 30.14 inches (765.7
millimetres) on December 9, and the lowest 28.02 inches (711.7
millimetres) on May 24, 1911; difference, 54 millimetres.

Air Temperature and Thermometers.

As has already been stated, minimum thermometers and mercury sling
thermometers were wanting. For the first six months only toluene sling
thermometers were used. Sling thermometers are short, narrow glass
thermometers, with a strong loop at the top; before being read they
are briskly swung round at the end of a string about half a yard long,
or in a special apparatus for the purpose. The swinging brings the
thermometer in contact with a great volume of air, and it therefore
gives the real temperature of the air more readily than if it were
hanging quietly in the screen.

From October 1 a mercury thermometer was also placed in the screen,
though only one divided to whole degrees; those divided to fifths
of a degree would, of course, have given a surer reading. But it is
evident, nevertheless, that the toluene thermometers used are correct
to less than half a degree (Centigrade), and even this difference
may no doubt be explained by one thermometer being slung while the
other was fixed. The observations are, therefore, given without any
corrections. Only at the end of December was exclusive use made of
mercury thermometers. The maximum thermometers taken proved of so
little use that they were soon discarded; the observations have not
been included here.

It was due to a misunderstanding that mercury thermometers were
not also used in the first half-year, during those periods when
the temperature did not go below the freezing-point of mercury
(-89° C.). But the toluene thermometers in use were old and good
instruments, so that the observations for this period may also be
regarded as perfectly reliable. Of course, all the thermometers had
been carefully examined at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and
at Framheim the freezing-point was regularly tested in melting snow.

The results show that the winter on the Barrier was about 19.°
C. (21.6° F.) colder than it usually is in McMurdo Sound, where
the British expeditions winter. The coldest month is August, with a
mean temperature of -44.5° C. (-48.1° F.); on fourteen days during
this month the temperature was below -50° C. (-58° F.). The lowest
temperature occurred on August 13: -58.5° C. (-73.3° F.); the warmest
day in that month had a temperature of -24° C. (-11.2° F.).

In October spring begins to approach, and in December the temperature
culminates with a mean for the month of -6.6° C. (+2O.l° F.), and a
highest maximum temperature of -0.2° C. (+31.6° F.). The temperature
was thus never above freezing-point, even in the warmest part of
the summer.

The daily course of the temperature -- warmest at noon and coldest
towards morning -- is, of course, not noticeable in winter, as the
sun is always below the horizon. But in April there is a sign of it,
and from September onward it is fairly marked, although the difference
between 2 p.m. and the mean of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. only amounts to 2°
C. in the monthly mean.

Humidity of the Air.

For determining the relative humidity of the air the expedition
had two of Russeltvedt's torsion hygrometers. This instrument has
been accurately described in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 1908,
p. 396. It has the advantage that there are no axles or sockets to
be rusted or soiled, or filled with rime or drift-snow.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

The two horsehairs (h, h') that are used, are stretched tight by a
torsion clamp (Z, Z', and L), which also carries the pointer; the
position of the pointer varies with the length of the hairs, which,
again, is dependent on the degree of humidity of the air. (See the
diagrams.) These instruments have been in use in Norway for several
years, especially at inland stations, where the winter is very cold,
and they have shown themselves superior to all others in accuracy and
durability; but there was no one on the Fram who knew anything about
them, and there is therefore a possibility that they were not always
in such good order as could be wished. On September 10, especially,
the variations are very remarkable; but on October 13 the second
instrument, No. 12, was hung out, and there can be no doubt of the
correctness of the subsequent observations.

It is seen that the relative humidity attains its maximum in winter,
in the months of July and August, with a mean of 90 per cent. The
driest air occurs in the spring month of November, with a mean of
73 per cent. The remaining months vary between 79 and 86 per cent.,
and the mean of the whole ten months is 82 per cent. The variations
quoted must be regarded as very small. On the other hand, the figures
themselves are very high, when the low temperatures are considered,
and this is doubtless the result of there being open water not very
far away. The daily course of humidity is contrary to the course of the
temperature, and does not show itself very markedly, except in January.

The absolute humidity, or partial pressure of aqueous vapour in the
air, expressed in millimetres in the height of the mercury in the
same way as the pressure of the atmosphere, follows in the main the
temperature of the air. The mean value for the whole period is only 0.8
millimetre (0.031 inch); December has the highest monthly mean with
2.5 millimetres (0.097 inch), August the lowest with 0.1 millimetre
(0.004 inch). The absolutely highest observation occurred on December
5 with 4.4 millimetres (0.173 inch), while the lowest of all is less
than 0.05 millimetre, and can therefore only be expressed by 0.0;
it occurred frequently in the course of the winter.



Precipitation.

Any attempt to measure the quantity of precipitation -- even
approximately -- had to be abandoned. Snowfall never occurred in
still weather, and in a wind there was always a drift that entirely
filled the gauge. On June 1 and 7 actual snowfall was observed,
but it was so insignificant that it could not be measured; it was,
however, composed of genuine flakes of snow. It sometimes happened
that precipitation of very small particles of ice was noticed;
these grains of ice can be seen against the observation lantern,
and heard on the observer's headgear; but on returning to the house,
nothing can be discovered on the clothing. Where the sign for snow
occurs in the column for Remarks, it means drift; these days are
included among days of precipitation. Sleet was observed only once,
in December. Rain never.

Cloudiness.

The figures indicate how many tenths of the visible heavens are covered
by clouds (or mist). No instrument is used in these observations;
they depend on personal estimate. They had to be abandoned during
the period of darkness, when it is difficult to see the sky.

Wind.

For measuring the velocity of the wind the expedition had a cup
and cross anemometer, which worked excellently the whole time. It
consists of a horizontal cross with a hollow hemisphere on each of
the four arms of the cross; the openings of the hemispheres are all
turned towards the same side of the cross-arms, and the cross can
revolve with a minimum of friction on a vertical axis at the point of
junction. The axis is connected with a recording mechanism, which is
set in motion at each observation and stopped after a lapse of half a
minute, when the figure is read off. This figure denotes the velocity
of the wind in metres per second, and is directly transferred to the
tables (here converted into feet per second).

The monthly means vary between 1.9 metres (6.2 feet) in May, and 5.5
metres (18 feet) in October; the mean for the whole ten months is 3.4
metres (11.1 feet) per second. These velocities may be characterized
as surprisingly small; and the number of stormy days agrees with
this low velocity. Their number for the whole period is only 11,
fairly evenly divided between the months; there are, however, five
stormy days in succession in the spring months October and November.

The frequency of the various directions of the wind has been added
up for each month, and gives the same characteristic distribution
throughout the whole period. As a mean we have the following table,
where the figures give the percentage of the total number of wind
observations:



N.
N.E.
E.
S.E.
S.
S.W.
W.
N.W.
Calm.

1.9
7.8
31.9
6.9
12.3
14.3
2.6
1.1
21.3


Almost every third direction is E., next to which come S.W. and S. Real
S.E., on the other hand, occurs comparatively rarely. Of N., N. W.,
and W. there is hardly anything. It may be interesting to see what
the distribution is when only high winds are taken into account --
that is, winds with a velocity of 10 metres (32.8 feet) per second
or more. We then have the following table of percentages:



N.
N.E.
E.
S.E.
S.
S.W.
W.
N.W.

7
12
51
10
4
10
2
4


Here again, E. is predominant, as half the high winds come from this
quarter. W. and N.W. together have only 6 per cent.

The total number of high winds is 51, or 5.6 per cent. of the total
of wind observations.

The most frequent directions of storms are also E. and N.E.

The Aurora Australis.

During the winter months auroral displays were frequently seen --
altogether on sixty-five days in six months, or an average of every
third day -- but for want of apparatus no exhaustive observations
could be attempted. The records are confined to brief notes of the
position of the aurora at the times of the three daily observations.

The frequency of the different directions, reckoned in percentages
of the total number of directions given, as for the wind, will be
found in the following table:



N.
N.E.
E.
S.E.
S.
S.W.
W.
N.W.
Zenith.

18
17
16
9
8
3
8
13
8


N. and N.E. are the most frequent, and together make up one-third of
all the directions recorded; but the nearest points on either side of
this maximum -- E. and N.W. -- are also very frequent, so that these
four points together -- N.W., N., N.E., E. -- have 64 per cent. of
the whole. The rarest direction is S.W., with only 3 per cent. (From
the position of the Magnetic Pole in relation to Framheim, one would
rather have expected E. to be the most frequent, and W. the rarest,
direction.) Probably the material before us is somewhat scanty for
establishing these directions.



Meteorological Record from Framheim.

April, 1911 -- January, 1912.

Height above sea-level, 36 feet. Gravity correction, .072 inch at
29.89 inches. Latitude, 78° 38' S. Longitude, 163° 37' W.

Explanation of Signs in the Tables.

SNOW signifies snow.

MIST ,, mist.

AURORA ,, aurora.

RINGSUN ,, large ring round the sun.

RINGMOON ,, ,, ,, moon.

STORM ,, storm

sq. ,, squalls

a. ,, a.m.

p. ,, p.m.

I., II, III., signify respectively 8 a.m., 2 p.m., and 8 p.m.

° (e.g., SNOW°) signifies slight.

2 (e.g., SNOW2) ,, heavy.

Times of day are always in local time.

The date was not changed on crossing the 180th meridian






CHAPTER III

Geology

Provisional Remarks on the Examination of the Geological Specimens
Brought by Roald Amundsen's South Polar Expedition from the Antarctic
Continent (South Victoria Land and King Edward VII. Land). By
J. Schetelig, Secretary of the Mineralogical Institute of Christiania
University

The collection of specimens of rocks brought back by Mr. Roald
Amundsen from his South Polar expedition has been sent by him to the
Mineralogical Institute of the University, the Director of which,
Professor W. C. Brögger, has been good enough to entrust to me the
work of examining this rare and valuable material, which gives us
information of the structure of hitherto untrodden regions.

Roald Amundsen himself brought back altogether about twenty specimens
of various kinds of rock from Mount Betty, which lies in lat. 85° 8'
S. Lieutenant Prestrud's expedition to King Edward VII. Land collected
in all about thirty specimens from Scott's Nunatak, which was the only
mountain bare of snow that this expedition met with on its route. A
number of the stones from Scott's Nunatak were brought away because
they were thickly overgrown with lichens. These specimens of lichens
have been sent to the Botanical Museum of the University.

A first cursory examination of the material was enough to show
that the specimens from Mount Betty and Scott's Nunatak consist
exclusively of granitic rocks and crystalline schists. There were
no specimens of sedimentary rocks which, by possibly containing
fossils, might have contributed to the determination of the age of
these mountains. Another thing that was immediately apparent was the
striking agreement that exists between the rocks from these two places,
lying so far apart. The distance from Mount Betty to Scott's Nunatak
is between seven and eight degrees of latitude.

I have examined the specimens microscopically.

From Mount Betty there are several specimens of white granite, with
dark and light mica; it has a great resemblance to the white granites
from Sogn, the Dovre district, and Nordland, in Norway. There is one
very beautiful specimen of shining white, fine-grained granite aplite,
with small, pale red garnets. These granites show in their exterior
no sign of pressure structure. The remaining rocks from Mount Betty
are gneissic granite, partly very rich in dark mica, and gneiss
(granitic schist); besides mica schist, with veins of quartz.

From Scott's Nunatak there are also several specimens of white granite,
very like those from Mount Betty. The remaining rocks from here are
richer in lime and iron, and show a series of gradual transitions
from micacious granite, through grano-diorite to quartz diorite,
with considerable quantities of dark mica, and green hornblende. In
one of the specimens the quantity of free quartz is so small that the
rock is almost a quartz-free diorite. The quartz diorites are: some
medium-grained, some coarse-grained (quartz-diorite-pegmatite), with
streaks of black mica. The schistose rocks from Scott's Nunatak are
streaked, and, in part, very fine-grained quartz diorite schists. Mica
schists do not occur among the specimens from this mountain.

Our knowledge of the geology of South Victoria Land is mainly due to
Scott's expedition of 1901 -- 1904, with H. T. Ferrar as geologist,
and Shackleton's expedition of 1907 -- 08, with Professor David
and R. Priestley as geologists. According to the investigations of
these expeditions, South Victoria Land consists of a vast, ancient
complex of crystalline schists and granitic rocks, large extents
of which are covered by a sandstone formation ("Beacon Sandstone,"
Ferrar), on the whole horizontally bedded, which is at least 1,500 feet
thick, and in which Shackleton found seams of coal and fossil wood (a
coniferous tree). This, as it belongs to the Upper Devonian or Lower
Carboniferous, determines a lower limit for the age of the sandstone
formation. Shackleton also found in lat. 85° 15' S. beds of limestone,
which he regards as underlying and being older than the sandstone. In
the limestone, which is also on the whole horizontally bedded,
only radiolaria have been found. The limestone is probably of older
Palæozoic age (? Silurian). It is, therefore, tolerably certain that
the underlying older formation of gneisses, crystalline schists and
granites, etc., is of Archæan age, and belongs to the foundation rocks.

Volcanic rocks are only found along the coast of Ross Sea and on
a range of islands parallel to the coast. Shackleton did not find
volcanic rocks on his ascent from the Barrier on his route towards
the South Pole.

G. T. Prior, who has described the rocks collected by Scott's
expedition, gives the following as belonging to the complex
of foundation rocks: gneisses, granites, diorites, banatites,
and other eruptive rocks, as well as crystalline limestone, with
chondrodite. Professor David and R. Priestley, the geologists of
Shackleton's expedition, refer to Ferrar's and Prior's description
of the foundation rocks, and state that according to their own
investigations the foundation rocks consist of banded gneiss, gneissic
granite, grano-diorite, and diorite rich in sphene, besides coarse
crystalline limestone as enclosures in the gneiss.

This list of the most important rocks belonging to the foundation
series of the parts of South Victoria Land already explored agrees so
closely with the rocks from Mount Betty and Scott's Nunatak, that there
can be no doubt that the latter also belong to the foundation rocks.

From the exhaustive investigations carried out by Scott's and
Shackleton's expeditions it appears that South Victoria Land is a
plateau land, consisting of a foundation platform, of great thickness
and prominence, above which lie remains, of greater or less extent,
of Palæozoic formations, horizontally bedded. From the specimens of
rock brought home by Roald Amundsen's expedition it is established that
the plateau of foundation rocks is continued eastward to Amundsen's
route to the South Pole, and that King Edward VII. Land is probably
a northern continuation, on the eastern side of Ross Sea, of the
foundation rock plateau of South Victoria Land.

Christiania,

September 26, 1912.



CHAPTER IV

The Astronomical Observations at the Pole

Note by Professor H. Geelmuyden

Christiania,

September 16, 1912.

When requested this summer to receive the astronomical observations
from Roald Amundsen's South Pole Expedition, for the purpose of working
them out, I at once put myself in communication with Mr. A. Alexander
(a mathematical master) to get him to undertake this work, while
indicating the manner in which the materials could be best dealt
with. As Mr. Alexander had in a very efficient manner participated in
the working out of the observations from Nansen's Fram Expedition,
and since then had calculated the astronomical observations from
Amundsen's Gjöa Expedition, and from Captain Isachsen's expeditions
to Spitzbergen, I knew by experience that he was not only a reliable
and painstaking calculator, but that he also has so full an insight
into the theoretical basis, that he is capable of working without
being bound down by instructions.

(Signed) H. Geelmuyden,

Professor of Astronomy,

The Observatory of the University,

Christiania.




Mr. Alexander's Report.

Captain Roald Amundsen,

At your request I shall here give briefly the result of my examination
of the observations from your South Pole Expedition. My calculations
are based on the longitude for Framheim given to me by Lieutenant
Prestrud, 163° 37' W. of Greenwich. He describes this longitude
as provisional, but only to such an extent that the final result
cannot differ appreciably from it. My own results may also be somewhat
modified on a final treatment of the material. But these modifications,
again, will only be immaterial, and, in any case, will not affect
the result of the investigations given below as to the position of
the two Polar stations.

At the first Polar station, on December 15, 1911, eighteen altitudes of
the sun were taken in all with each of the expedition's sextants. The
latitude calculated from these altitudes is, on an average of both
sextants, very near 89° 54', with a mean error of +-2'. The
longitude calculated from the altitudes is about
7t (105°) E.; but, as might be expected in this high latitude,
the aberrations are very considerable. We may, however, assume with
great certainty that this station lies between lat. 89° 52' and 89°
56' S., and between long. 90° and 120° E.

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