Glossary

Blizzard

An Antarctic blizzard is a high southerly wind generally accompanied by clouds of drifting snow, partly falling from above, partly picked up from the surface. In the daylight of summer a tent cannot be seen a few yards off: in the darkness of winter it is easy to be lost within a few feet of a hut. There is no doubt that a blizzard has a bewildering and numbing effect upon the brain of anyone exposed to it.

Brash

Small ice fragments from a floe which is breaking up.

Cloud

The commonest form of cloud, and also that typical of blizzard conditions, was a uniform pall stretching all over the sky without distinction. This was logged by us as stratus. Cumulus clouds are the woolly billows, flat below and rounded on top, which are formed by local ascending currents of air. They were rare in the south and only formed over open water or mountains. Cirrus are the “mare’s tails” and similar wispy clouds which float high in the atmosphere. These and their allied forms were common. Generally speaking, the clouds were due to stratification of the air into layers rather than to ascending currents.

Crusts

Layers of snow in a snowfield with air space between them.

Finnesko

Boots made entirely of fur, soles and all.

Frost Smoke

Condensed water vapour which forms a mist over open sea in cold weather.

Ice-Foot

Fringes of ice which skirt many parts of the Antarctic shores: many of them have been formed by sea-spray.

Nunatak

An island of land in a snowfield. Buckley Island is the top of a mountain sticking out of the top of the Beardmore Glacier.

Piedmont

Stretches of ancient ice which remain along the Antarctic coasts.

Pram

A Norwegian skiff, with a spoon bow.

Saennegrass

A kind of Norwegian hay used as packing in finnesko.

Sastrugi

The furrows or irregularities formed on a snow plain by the wind. They may be a foot or more deep and as hard and as slippery as ice: they may be quite soft: they may appear as great inverted pudding bowls: they may be hard knots covered with soft powdery snow.

Sledging Distances

All miles are geographical miles unless otherwise stated, 1 statute or English mile = 0.87 geographical mile: 1 geographical mile = 1.15 statute miles.

Tank

A canvas “holdall” strapped to the sledge to contain food bags.

Tide Crack

A working crack between the land ice and the sea ice which rises and falls with the tide.

Wind

Wind forces are logged according to the Beaufort scale, which is as follows: