Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Friday 23 February 1940, page 7


THE NORTH POLE.

Is it Getting Warmer.

(From a Special Correspondent. By Air Mail.)

BUNDABERG, February 22.

Is it getting warmer at the North Pole? From soundings and meteoro-logical tests taken by the Soviet ex-plorers who returned this week to Murmansk, Russia's sole ice-free

Arctic port, it was concluded that near Polar temperatures are on an average six degrees higher than those registered by Nansen 40 years ago. Ice measurements were on an average only 6½ feet against from 9¼ to 13 feet. The return of the Soviet icebreaker Sedoff brought to a close a Polar expedition, involuntarily undertaken which led to important discoveries. For 2½ years she had drifted while trapped in Polar ice. Fifteen men volunteered to stay on board the Sedoff until relief came. In the drift to the north-west these men passed nearer to the North Pole than any other ship. Their highest latitude registered was 86 degrees 56min. North. They discovered by soundings a near Polar sea pocket, 17,260 feet deep. Such a pocket had hitherto been unsuspected in the Polar Sea.