The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1914, Qupperneq 82

III. CLIMATE.1
A long the coast of Iceland, generally speaking, a decidedly insular
11 climate prevails, the conditions ol' which are determined by
the wind-distribution over the North Atlantic and by oceanic cur-
rents. The climate lias an oceanic character, the summer being cool
and the winter usually mild — but it may become very cold when
northern winds prevail and the Polar ice blockades the coasts. The
air is usually damp, and storms are very frequent and violent. The
climate varies, however, rather considerably in the different parts
of the coast, and there is also a considerable difference between
that of the coast and the interior.
1 Meteorological observations from Iceland are published annually in “Mete-
orologisk Aarbog,” 2. Del. Bilandene. Kobenhavn (Annuaire Météorologique. Publié
par l’Institut météorologique Danois. Deuxiéme partie. Les colonies), in Danish
and French. See also, Iiléments météorologiques des iles Féroé, de l’Islande et du
Groenland. Copenhague, 1899. The climatological observations from Iceland have,
as yet, been worked out to a small exteut only, and there exist no larger and
morc exhaustive accounts of the climate of Iceland; only some small, but valuable,
papers are to hand by V. Wi 1 laume-.Iantzen (Climat du littoral islandais. Con-
grés maritime international de Copenhague, 1902; and some articles in “Salomon-
sens Leksikon,” 1899, and in “Atlanten,” 1904); use bas been made of these in this
paper. The climatological means which are given in this paper have been calculated
and ciassified at the Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen in 1910, and were
previously published, 1911, only in my book on Iceland “Lýsing Islands,” in which
there is a section (vol. II, pp. 327—394) giving an account of our present knowledge
of the climate of Iceland and its weather-conditions during historic times. Among
older papers on tlie climatology of Iceland may be mentioned J. Thorstensen.
Observationes Meteorologicæ, 1823-1837, in Islandia factæ. Hafniæ, 1839; .1. F.
Schouw, Nogle Bemærkninger om Vejrliget paa Island i Vinteren 1824—25 (Tids-
skrift for Naturvidenskaberne. Kobenliavn, 1826, IV, pp. 259—262); Mag. Pedersen,
Undersogelse om Barometrets daglige Middeloccillation paa Island (Overs. Vid. Selsk.
Forh., 1845, pp. 65—69); and lastly observations by H. J. Scheel from Akureyri,
1811 — 13 (Annals of Philosophy. Edited by Th. Thomson, Series 1, Vol. XI, London,
1818, pp. 96—103 and 169—175), and observations by A. O. Thorlacius from
Stykkisholm, published in “Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society,” 1869,
1873, etc. Articles on the winds, drift-ice and other more special subjects will be
mentioned subsequently in footnotes to the text.