Precipitation.

Any attempt to measure the quantity of precipitation —­ even approximately —­ had to be abandoned.  Snowfall never occurred in still weather, and in a wind there was always a drift that entirely filled the gauge.  On June 1 and 7 actual snowfall was observed, but it was so insignificant that it could not be measured; it was, however, composed of genuine flakes of snow.  It sometimes happened that precipitation of very small particles of ice was noticed; these grains of ice can be seen against the observation lantern, and heard on the observer’s headgear; but on returning to the house, nothing can be discovered on the clothing.  Where the sign for snow occurs in the column for Remarks, it means drift; these days are included among days of precipitation.  Sleet was observed only once, in December.  Rain never.

Cloudiness.

The figures indicate how many tenths of the visible heavens are covered by clouds (or mist).  No instrument is used in these observations; they depend on personal estimate.  They had to be abandoned during the period of darkness, when it is difficult to see the sky.

Wind.

For measuring the velocity of the wind the expedition had a cup and cross anemometer, which worked excellently the whole time.  It consists of a horizontal cross with a hollow hemisphere on each of the four arms of the cross; the openings of the hemispheres are all turned towards the same side of the cross-arms, and the cross can revolve with a minimum of friction on a vertical axis at the point of junction.  The axis is connected with a recording mechanism, which is set in motion at each observation and stopped after a lapse of half a minute, when the figure is read off.  This figure denotes the velocity of the wind in metres per second, and is directly transferred to the tables (here converted into feet per second).

The monthly means vary between 1.9 metres (6.2 feet) in May, and 5.5 metres (18 feet) in October; the mean for the whole ten months is 3.4 metres (11.1 feet) per second.  These velocities may be characterized as surprisingly small; and the number of stormy days agrees with this low velocity.  Their number for the whole period is only 11, fairly evenly divided between the months; there are, however, five stormy days in succession in the spring months October and November.

The frequency of the various directions of the wind has been added up for each month, and gives the same characteristic distribution throughout the whole period.  As a mean we have the following table, where the figures give the percentage of the total number of wind observations: 

N.
N.E. 
E.
S.E. 
S.
S.W. 
W.
N.W. 
Calm.

1.9 7.8 31.9 6.9 12.3 14.3 2.6 1.1 21.3

Almost every third direction is E., next to which come S.W. and S. Real S.E., on the other hand, occurs comparatively rarely.  Of N., N. W., and W. there is hardly anything.  It may be interesting to see what the distribution is when only high winds are taken into account —­ that is, winds with a velocity of 10 metres (32.8 feet) per second or more.  We then have the following table of percentages: