Abstract
NOW that the effects of glacial action, present and past, have been so welt studied, the question as to causes deserves to be more attentively considered, and it seems that meteorologists must now take it in hand, having too long neglected it. A cursory glance on the present conditions of our globe shows us that cold alone will not produce permanent snow and glaciers when vapour of water is deficient. There are no permanent snow nor glaciers in the Verkhojansk Mountains in North-East Siberia, yet at the foot of them the mean annual temperature is below 4° F., and that of January below - 56°F. The reason is that the snowfall is but small, and thus the snow is easily melted in summer. In New Zealand, on the contrary, owing to the enormous snowfall in the mountains, glaciers descend to about 700 feet above sea-level on the west side (lat. 43° S.). At this height the mean annual temperature must be about 50° F., and snowfall and frost are of rare occurrence, even in winter.
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References
A. Dana in Sill. Journ. c. xv. p. 250.
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WOEIKOF, A. Glaciers and Glacial Periods in their Relations to Climate 1 . Nature 25, 424–426 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/025424a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025424a0