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Show MYSTERY LIFTS AT NORTH POLE LENINGRAD (Ui? Prof. R. L. Samoilovich, director of the All-Union All-Union Arctic Institute, has summarized sum-marized the work carried out by the four Russian explorers wo flew to the North Pole and established estab-lished a base there. Paying tribute to Ivan Papanin, Ernest Krenkel, Peter Shirshov and Eugene Federov, the professor profes-sor said: "Four courageous men, despite the brief time of their stay at the North Pole, have made a number of exceptionally important import-ant discoveries concerning the nature of the vast white spot, the center of which is the pole. Ocean Like Cup "We knew nothing about the Central Polar" Basin, whereas at present we know precisely the 1 depths prevailing in the proximity proximi-ty of the North Pole and can say with certainty that the Arctic Ocean represents a cup, the deepest deep-est parts of which are located in the vicinity of the North Pole. "Until lately we had no idea of the direction of the warm current cur-rent of the Gulf Stream in the northern latitudes; now we know that even on the pole there passes a powerful current of comparatively compara-tively warm Atlantic water. "We knew nothing about the drift of the polar ice-floes in this region inaccessible to man. Now we know that the drift generally proceeds in the southwestern direction di-rection toward the area situated between Spitzbergen and Greenland. High Temperatures Proved "We formerly could only conjecture conjec-ture in the past on the weather conditions characterizing the climatic cli-matic peculiarities of the area near the pole, whereas, at present we know that comparatively high temperatures of the air prevail there during the summer season. "Does any life exist on the North Pole ? . This problem' has been solved as well. The presence of birds proves that life does exist ex-ist on the ice on the North Pole, and it will undoubtedly be found under the ice, too. Finally, we have ascertained the magnitudes of the elements of land magnetism." |