1873 : Arctic Explorer Infers “that there lies round the Pole a large expanse of clear, warm water”

7 Responses to 1873 : Arctic Explorer Infers “that there lies round the Pole a large expanse of clear, warm water”

1. omnologos says:

   February 23, 2011 at 4:29 pm

   Please treat these reports carefully. There was plenty of incentives at the time for people to claim they’d found open polar waters, as many were trying to be first to the North Pole. And there’s also a case to be made for polynyas.

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   • stevengoddard says:

     February 23, 2011 at 4:31 pm

     Serreze great-great-grandfather?

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2. omnologos says:

   February 23, 2011 at 5:41 pm

   By the way…here’s a link to a Nov 2010 post of mine, discussing how Royal Society reports from the 1770’s and NYT letters from 1858 indicate that Arctic sea ice reached much lower latitudes in the XIX (70N) than in the XVIII century (80N).

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3. Mike Davis says:

   February 24, 2011 at 4:47 am

   The only indication is that ice extent varies from year to year and decade to decade. There is evidence of logs on Ellesmere Island indicating less ice during several periods in the last 5000 years. There are wave patterns on the be shores revealing the same. These are in locations that are still ice bound most of the year!
   Just like some “Scientists” today, some of the explorers then engaged in practices that generated funding for additional research. I go more with the geological and biological evidence!

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   • malcolm says:

     February 24, 2011 at 10:27 pm

     Three times in the 1900s , it was recorded that there was access to the arctic seas . Thor amundsen sailed into the northern seas . The Royal Canadian Mounted police sailed at least to Hudson Bay . A German armed ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific about 1942. Those who sailed into those waterways left a record of it . It’s about time many of you experts did your own research and stopped relying on opinion and minimal examination of past records. I only have contempt for you over educated, self professed experts who make predictions before researching for provable facts.

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     • giles winterbourne says:

       February 26, 2011 at 2:22 am

       And you can bring documentation , right?

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4. FredR says:

   February 24, 2011 at 10:10 pm

   Don’t discount past reports of reduced Arctic ice, either. There is currently plenty of (monetary) incentive to promote evidence of open polar waters.

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