Sir, Melting of fresh-water ice in sea water

In my article in the last number of the Journal of Glaciology (p. 1051–52) overlooked the most detailed early experiments on the question. In 1903 during the Gauss expedition Reference von Drygalskivon Drygalski (1921) studied the melting of cubes of fresh-water ice in sea water at temperatures between −0.25° and −1.9° C. He immersed the cubes to depths of 4, 10, 50, 200 and 380 m. Surprisingly, with similar measured temperatures, cubes of equal size used to melt faster at lower than at higher levels. Von Drygalski thought that the faster melting in the lower layers was caused by an occasional influx of slightly warmer water.

F. Loewe

Institute of Polar Studies, Ohio State University, Columbus 10, Ohio, U.S.A, 24 October 1961