Hare, F. Kenneth

English

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REVIEWS 189 misleading,  because the  few  important fields are  manned  by  the U.S.A.F., while the unimportant one is not manned at all. Under  “Administration”  it is stated that  “Greenland is administered by a special department in the Danish Minis- try of the Interior”-this is not  the case, since it is a branch of the Office of the Prime Minister. Reference  to  resources emphasizes the Ivigtut cryolite mine and its great im- portance to the Greenland budget. The mine is of course not operated by the Pennsylvania Salt Company (p. 69) nor has it ever been so. It is owned jointly by  the  Danish  Government  and  a  private Danish  corporation. T h e  authors  are apparently unaware of the fundamental change in the Greenland economy due to a shift from production of seal and other oils, to  commercial fishing, especi- ally of cod. Should  a  further  edition of this useful handbook on the Scandinavian  States and  Finland be  called for,  Mr.  Gathorne- Hardy and his committee could perhaps refer the parts of it dealing with Lap- land, Spitsbergen, and Greenland to the appropriate  governments  for amplifica- tion  a d correction. TREVOR LLOYD CLIMATE OF THE CANADIAN ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO By R. W. RAE. Toronto:  Depar tment  of Transport,  Meteorological  Division, 1951. 11 x 84 inches; 90 pages; maps and  diagrams. 35 cents. This  welcome  publication  by  a  meteor- ologist  widely  experienced  inarctic climates  replaces the  old  ‘Meteorology of the Canadian  Arctic’,  which  had  been out-of-date  and out of print for some years. The  new  study is a  great  improve- ment on the old, and is a vital addition to the documentation of the  north.  The author was in charge of the joint Cana- dian/United  States  weather  station  at Resolute Bay, Cornwallis Island, for a considerable  period;  he  has drawn on this experience and on the files of the Canadian  Meteorological  Service  in  com- pleting his report. H e  pays  tribute  in his introduction  tohe unpublished work of W. C. Wonders on the same region. I t  is clear,  none the less, that  the principal  source  upon  which  he  drew was his own unrivalled fund of  mem- ories. Mr.  Rae  proceeds  along  traditional lines. H e  discusses successively the con- trols of climate, temperature, precipita- tion, clouds, visibility, winds, and rela- tive  humidity. The  formal  account is followed  by  forty  invaluable pages of tabulated  climatic  data,  which  will be of great value to other  research  workers. Some of this  wealth of material  has  been represented cartographically in a series of twelve  distribution  maps  (the  first to be published for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago based on adequate data). The  cold pole of the Canadian Arctic is now placed in northern Ellesmere Island,  where  January is believed to have a  mean  temperature of below -40’F; indeed, the new weather stations in the outer fringe of arctic islands have made it clear that we have been partially mis- led  in our thinking about winter cold by  the  concentration of stations  along and  near  Lancaster  Sound,  which is ano- malously warm in mid-winter presum- ably because of partially  open  water. Isachsen, Mould Bay, and Eureka have all experienced minima of below -60’F, in spite of the briefness of their record, whereas Arctic Bay has never attained this degree of cold in fourteen years of record.  Mean  temperatures  in  January and  February  are  below  -30°F  over  a wide  area of the archipelago,  whereas they  are  above -2O’F along  Lancaster Sound. T h e  new stations have reinforced to an astonishing degree our preconceived idea that  he  outer islands were  very dry.  Total  annual  precipitation  at Eureka has averaged only 1.74 inches in the three or four years of record. The total  rainfall  for  the  period  January 1948 to  December 1950 was  only 1.44 inches (a figure sometimes exceeded in a single day at Ottawa or Washington) and fresh snow amounted to less than 15 inches  in  each of the  three  years (cf. Montreal, 112 inches average annual fall). T o  some extent these figures are vitiated by  the  xtreme  difficulty of 190 REVIEWS measuring fresh snowfall, but they can- not be far from the truth. The arctic “deserts” are a proven reality. Mr. Rae discusses the annual cycle of cloudiness  in  considerable  d tail. In commenting  on  the  gloomy,  overcast skies of summer, he  lays  special  stress on the  double  maximum of cloudiness characteristic of central  and  southern parts of the archipelago. In spring and early  summer  there is widespread marine  status  and sea fog that  partly dissipates later in the summer, only to reform as temperatures  fall  below  freez- ing  in  the  autumn.  Mr.  Rae  ascribes  this stratiform  cloud-deck  to  the  trapping of moist, chilled air below the usual radi- ative  inversion of temperature. H e  states, however, that the cloudiness of autumn tends to  consist of more  turbulent  strato- cumulus layers, probably due to higher wind-speeds;  otherwise the process of formation is similar. This may be so in the  archipelago;  but  stratocumulus  decks are  qually  extensive farther  south in the same season, and frequently form in deeply unstable polar air that is heated from below by residual open water. In- versions  are  frequently  absent  in  such instances, and the “layer” habit of the autumnal cloud remains something of a mystery. There are one or two points in Mr. Rae’s treatment at which I must cavil. I wonder  how  many of the  convolutions of the  40°F  isotherm on the  July temperature  map  (Fig.  11)  are based either on observational  material o r  on topographic probabilities. I t  is also plain that on the same map  Mr.  Rae  made little use of available statistics from the nearby  mainland. Thus  the 5O’F iso- therm  pursues an erratic  ourse  that bears little relation to reality: it passes on Fig. 11 north of Port  Harrison (which has a July mean of only 47’F) and  far  to  the  south of Churchill (54’F), Baker Lake (50°F), and  Coppermine ( S O O F ) .  This is an unfortunate lapse in view of the importance attached to this line by biologists. T h e  closed loop of the  60°F  isotherm  that is obviously  sup- posed to  lie over  Goose  Bay (62OF) misses it by some  hundred miles; the 55’F line passes right through the site of the airbase. I t  is quite true that these criti- cisms apply  only to the mainland, whereas  Mr.  Rae  was  addressing himself to the archipelago.  But it is inevitable that these maps, covering as they do a large  part of the  arctic  and  subarctic mainland, will be widely copied for this larger  purpose,  and it is unfortunate  that they  are  by no means of uniform reliability. In all other respects,  however, the new report is a thoroughly useful and well-conceived  contribution  to  arctic science. I t  is to be hoped  that  studies of similar scope will soon be forthcom- ing for other parts of the Northland. F. KENNETH HARE N O R T H  OF THE CIRCLE By FRANK ILLINGWORTH. New York: Philosophical Library, 1952. 84 x Sit inches; 2S4 pages; illustrations. 84.7s. As  far as can  be  determined  the  objec- tive of ‘North of the Circle’ is to  prove to a lay reader that life in arctic areas may be comfortable rather than harsh. It is questionable whether the series of anecdotes related accomplishes this ob- jective. Otherwise, the book is a more or less pleasant ramble which in total is incomplete,  in  part  inaccurate,  mostly undocumented,  inadequately  illustrated, and  quite possibly  over-optimistic. Mistakes  in fact  are  legion.  For  in- stance: ‘hp  the  Yukon  towards  the Bering Sea” (p.  40);  “no  [agricultural] ground pests” (p.  68)  though  severe damage has been caused over the years by root maggots  and  cutworms  in  arctic vegetables;  every  statement  but one about  the  Matanuska  Valley on p. 73; “The Russians did  not  want  o sell” Alaska (p. 152)  in  spite of historians’ statements to the contrary; the Alaska purchase  “was  the  largest single  deal in  real  estate  inhistory”  (p. 153) ignoring  the 40 per  cent  larger  Louisana Purchase  just  sixty-four  years  previously; the Malaspina  Glacier  “covers  fifteen hundred square miles” (p. 153) although shown  to be  only 900-1,000 on  the  most recent maps;  discussion of the  periods of Alaskan development (p. 155)  omits the beginning of fishing, Alaska’s great- est industry; the Alaska Wail Road suc- 

Climate of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago by R.W. Rae

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Climate of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago by R.W. Rae

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