Abstract
PROF. W. MEINARDUS gives the results of an estimate of the mean elevation of the central core of the Antarctic land mass, based on the distribution of atmospheric pressure and consequent exchange of air between the two hemispheres, in the November and December numbers of Petermann's Mitteilungen. Extending Spitaler's results with the help of Mohn's discussion of the Fram observations, and Baschin's maps of the southern oceans, Prof. Meinardus finds that, while the mean pressure (not reduced to sea-level) is 0.85 mm. higher in January than in July between latitudes 0° to 80° N., in the zone 0° to 50° S. it is 2.14 mm. lower. In higher southern latitudes, as far as 60° S. lat., the January pressure is 0.73 mm. less than the July, and from 60° S. to the Antarctic circle the relation is almost one of equality. Hence, allowing for proportional areas, it follows that within the Antarctic circle the true atmospheric pressure must be 11 mm. higher in January than in July.
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The Mean Height of the Antarctic Continent . Nature 82, 343 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/082343a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/082343a0