Or have our souls been touched by the Unknown Being to whom all turn in moments of trouble when things have to be settled which are beyond human power?
Part VI
THE WEATHER
By Jakob Bjerkens
THE WEATHER
This part does not contain any scientific accounts of the meteorological observations undertaken by the expedition in King’s Bay, during the flight or during the twenty-four days’ stay in 87° 43′—this will be left for the scientific journals to publish. I shall only give here a characterization of the “polar-weather” as it was during 1925 and what was done in order to determine the best date for the start.
What kind of weather conditions must the flyers have for their journey towards the Pole?
First of all there must be no fog at the place where they have to land. Even if there is only a fog-belt extending a few meters above the ground, a landing is impossible and a “forced-landing” would almost certainly end in a catastrophe.
Further, the flyers must avoid passing through thick snow. The two flying-machines might easily lose sight of each other, and if, in order to keep in contact with each other, they should fly close together, there is always the danger of a collision.
An overcast sky without rainfall is also useless. At least it must clear now and again sufficiently to make it possible to navigate by the sun. It is of course known that steering by the magnetic compass is very uncertain so far north, as the extent of the deviations in the Arctic is not sufficiently known.
Luckily so much is known about the weather in the polar ice region that it is possible to choose in advance the most suitable time of year for a polar flight. First of all, Nansen’s expedition by the “Fram” in 1893–1896 has given us this knowledge about the polar weather. During almost the entire time of their drift across the Arctic observations were made nearly every two hours in the course of the day, so that a singularly rich stock of information exists. The observations have been thoroughly gone through by the late Professor H. Mohn, so that we have got them set out now in a most perspicuous form. Both the observers’ and Professor Mohn’s calculations are published in the work, “The Norwegian North Polar Expedition XVII Meteorology.”
