WINDS OF THE GLOBE. SERIES B. GENERAL TABLES. ZONE No. 1. LATITUDE 85° To 90° NORTH. THIS Zone having never been visited by man, direct observations of its winds are wanting, and their character must necessarily be very much a matter of conjecture. It can only be inferred very obscurely from that of those in the contiguous zones. If ever the north pole is reached, the wind there may perhaps more probably be found to blow from the direction of the Eastern Siberian polar seas, towards Iceland, on the west of Europe. ZONE No. 2. LATITUDE 80° TO 85° NORTH. The materials for the study of the winds of this zone consist of the observations of Dr. Kane and his party, for five days in the summer of 1854, on the eastern shore of Smith's Strait, those of the German Polar Expedition north of Spitzbergen for four days in July and August and five in September, 1868; those of Parry from June 25 to August 10, 1827, on the ice north of Spitzbergen,-periods of time too short to afford any very reliable results; and those of Captain Hall's party from November 6, 1871, to August 15, 1872. In May, 1861, Dr. Hayes and party spent ten days in this zone, on the western shore of Smith's Strait, but do not appear to have taken note of the direction of the wind to any great extent. With the exception of Captain Hall's command, that spent the winter of 1871-2 in latitude 82° 16' N. in Polaris Bay, no other civilized parties have ever travelled north of the 80th parallel. The observed directions of the wind, and the computed resultants, were as follows: (No. 1.) Smith's Strait. Longitude 65° to 75° W. Observed directions-N. 3. N. E. 1, calm 1; total 5. Ratio of resultant to sum of winds .75 (69) (No. 2.) Arctic Ocean. Longitude 5° to 25° E. Summer. Observed directions-North 6, N. N. E. 2, N. E. by N. 3, N. E. 1, E N. E. 1. East 9, E. by S. 3, E. S. E. 9, S. E. by E. 3, S. E. 14, S. E. by S. 1, S. by E. 1. South 7, S. by W. 3, S. W. 10, S. W. by W. 1, W. S. W. 5. West 3, W. by N. 2, W. N. W. 3, N. W. 3, N. W. by N. 1, calm 3; total 94. Direction of resultant S. 30° 7′ E. Ratio of resultant to sum of winds .30. Number of days 51. (No. 3.) Arctic Ocean. Longitude 7° to 17° E. Autumn. Observed directions-S. S. E. 1, S. S. W. 1, W. 1, N. N. W. 1, N. by W. 1. Ratio of resultant to sum of winds .32. Number of days 5. (No. 4.) Polaris Bay,' winter quarters of the U. S. Arctic Expedition under CAPT. HALL. Observed from November 6, 1871, to August 15, 1872, by DR. BESSELS. 'The observations were horary, with some interruptions. They are calculated here for the hours 14 and 7† A. M. and P. M. only. 63.8 90.0 6.0 38.0 10.5 0 196.0 0. 37.0 299.2 0. 14.2 0 (Nos. 1 to 5.) ZONE No. 3. LATITUDE 75° to 80° NORTH. The observations in this zone were made by different Arctic explorers for an aggregate period of 3120 days, or more than eight and a half years. Western Arctic Ocean (north of America). Observed at the following places, viz. :— Northumberland Sound, by Belcher, from August 1st, 1852, to June 30th, 1853. At sea (longitude 90° to 97° W.) by Kane, Penny, and Belcher in the years 1850 to 1853, for an aggregate period of 96 days. Port Refuge, Disaster Bay, by Belcher, from August 18th, 1853, to August 23d, 1854. At sea (longitude 70° to 90° W.), by Ross, for 10 days in the summer of 1818; by Snow, for 4 days in the summer of 1850; by Kane, for 33 days in the spring and summer of 1850, and summer of 1853; and by McClintock, for three days in the autumn of 1857, and for 10 days in the summer of 1858; making an aggregate of 60 days. The observations in spring were made between the meridians of 80° and 90°, and those in summer and autumn between 70° and 80°. (Nos. 6, 7, and 8.) year. RELATIVE PREVALENCE OF WINDS FROM THE North. N. N. E. N. E. E. N. E. S. S. W. S. W. W. S. W. W. N. W. West. (lon. 80° to 90° W.) 5 At sea Summer 18 4 9 3.27 15 23 412 0 15 7 18 14 28 7 138 N. 6 50 W. (lon. 70° to 80° W.) Autumn 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 2 0 5 3 114 0 0, 4 S. 79 35 W.??? .48 Northern Greenland. 'N. W. N. N. W. Calm or Observed at the following places, viz. :— Port Foulke, by Isaac I. Hayes, from September 1st, 1860, to July 31st, 1861. Rensselaer Bay, under direction of Elisha Kent Kane, from September 1st, 1853, to Jan. 24th, 1855. 1 Computed from the resultants for the seasons. 2 433 No. 6. Port Foulke. At Port Foulke and Rensselaer Bay the estimated velocity of the wind was indicated by a scale of numbers extending from 1 to 10, as follows :— The observations at both places were discussed at the expense of the Smithsonian Institution, by Charles A. Schott, of the U. S. Coast Survey, who arranged and classified them, and computed the second series of resultants at each.1 |