Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ...to the warm moist winds. Proximity to the sea and the shelter of the Yaila Mountains combine to give the south of the Crimea, the Eussian Eiviera, its mild winters. At Yalta the mean January temperature is 38, and the lowest reading on record 9; at Ekaterinoslav, 280 miles north, fully exposed to the cold north-east winds that sweep over the steppes, the corresponding figures are 19 and--31. Even Yalta is considerably colder than the north coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, which, however, are in slightly lower latitudes. The coast of the Black Sea at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains is another climatic oasis, thanks to the mountain shelter, a shelter which is said to be effective even on the south coast of the Black Sea. When, however, a deep depression lies over the eastern part of the sea, the lower eastern end of the Caucasus is unable to keep back the inflow from the north-east, which sweeps down as the dreaded Bora, an exceedingly strong, cold, dry wind from the steppes, known especially in the neighbourhood of Novorossiisk. The isotherms curve northward over the south of the Caspian Sea, the northern part of which, however, being frozen, has little or no modifying influence. The Arctic Ocean warms the north of Siberia somewhat, but its frozen surface is not so effective a source of heat as the open Pacific, on the shores of which the isotherms are closely crowded. The most striking effect is provided by Lake Baikal in December (Fig. 65) when the water is freezing but not yet frozen over; the course of the isotherms shows the combined effect of the open water and of the liberation of latent heat during freezing; there is much fog on the shores of the lake at this time. In the second half of the winter the lake is completely...