The Glacial Anticyclones: the Poles of the Atmospheric Circulation

Abstract

IN his study of the great ice masses which form the continental glaciers of Greenland and the Antarctic, Prof. Hobbs was impressed with the dome-like shape of their ice-covered surfaces. He also noticed that the predominating wind direction along their coasts had a marked outward component as though the air were sliding off the domes. It was not difficult to find a reason why air should slide off the domes in this way, for meteorologists had long been familiar with the flow of cold air down hill-sides and valleys which occurs when the surface layers of air become abnormally cold owing to intense outward radiation. Sir Napier Shaw has given the name katabatic wind to the winds formed in this way.

The Glacial Anticyclones: the Poles of the Atmospheric Circulation.

By William Herbert Hobbs. (University of Michigan Studies, Scientific Series, Vol. 4.) Pp. xxiv + 198 + 3 plates. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1926.) 2.75 dollars.