The Form and Age of the Greenland Ice Cap

Abstract

The first crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap by Fridjof Nansen in 1888 had shown that the southern part was a flattened dome rising to a height of 2,720 m. Crossings in 1912 by the Danish expedition of J. P. Koch and A. Wegener and by a Swiss expedition under de Quervain proved that there was a northern culmination, reaching to a height of at least 3,000 m., which was separated by a saddle of about 2,500 m. from the southern culmination traversed by Nansen. The form of the Ice Cap determined by these three crossings and by other expeditions near its margin of Rink, Jensen, Baron Nordenskiold, Peary, Gaarde, Mikkelsen, Rasmussen, and L. Koch, has been summarized in sketchmaps by L. Koch (1923) and de Quervain (1925). In the year 1930–31 several expeditions were simultaneously making further contributions to our knowledge of the Greenland Ice Cap. (See Fig. 1.)