Экспедиция Альфреда Вегенера в Гренландию 1930 г.
The German Greenland Expedition, 1930–1931
Alfred Wegener designated the expedition's most important goal as the establishment of three stations across the ice sheet from west to east at 71° N. The purpose was to measure climate conditions and meteorological and glaciological data over the course of an entire year, thereby enabling a survey on the dynamics of ice sheets, snow increase—or loss—and weather conditions for the first time ever. Wegener applied seismological methods to examine the thickness of the ice sheet and the geological structure of the earth surface underneath the ice. With the help of small explosions on the ice and the registration of the sound waves that travel through the ice, it was possible to measure the structure of the Greenland ice sheet for the first time. This seismological method was developed at the physics institute of the University of Göttingen by the geophysicist Emil Wiechert. It was used to investigate basic geological questions about the structure of the earth and was also successfully applied in the field of geological prospecting.
An essential precondition for Wegener’s ambitious scientific program was the construction of an overwintering station in the center of the ice sheet, some four hundred kilometers from either coast. Thus logistical questions—including the transport of materials, instruments, and supplies—were of utmost importance. The expedition was, however, delayed for several weeks due to the fact that the sea ice had not melted, and the general difficulties of transporting materials across the ice sheet. Furthermore, it was not only very difficult to load the propeller sleds onto the ice, it was also a challenge using this untested new technology for the transport of equipment across the ice.
The detailed diary entries from August and September 1930 provide an impression of the drama and the difficulties that confronted Wegener. Propeller sleds occupied a key position, for they were the object of great expectations. On the one hand, Wegener was full of enthusiasm about the new possibility of transporting large loads across wide stretches without stopping. On the other, the failure of the propeller sleds seemed to reflect the failure of the mission in general. Due to the lack of logistical support Johannes Georgi (1888–1972), Fritz Loewe (1895–1974) and Ernst Sorge (1899–1946) passed the winter in difficult conditions in the station Eismitte. They dug a cave in the ground and pursued a restricted scientific program in their improvised ice cavern. Fritz Loewe’s frost-bitten toes had to be amputated with a pocket knife, and the team was forced to economize their food and petroleum consumption. Nevertheless their measurements, such as Ernst Sorge’s measurement of the density and temperature of several annual layers of firn, were still valuable.
Johannes Georgi (1888–1972) studied meteorology under Alfred Wegener in Marburg in 1915, and later worked for the Hamburger Seewarte just as Wegener did. Some of Wegener’s family members accused Georgi of causing the expedition leaders' tragic death by sending an alarming letter that supposedly made Alfred Wegener decide to make the fatal journey to support the central firn station.
Fritz Loewe (1895–1974) emigrated from Germany during the Nazi regime. He first went to the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge and later founded the first meteorological institute in Australia. After the Second World War he participated in several polar expeditions and maintained contact with German and international polar scientists. His papers are held at the University of Melbourne and the Deutsches Archiv für Polar und Meeresforschung.
Ernst Sorge (1899–1946) participated in the Wegner expedition as glaciologist. He measured the thickness of Greenland’s ice cap as 2600 m; this was later revised. Like Fritz Loewe he served as a scientific advisor for the film SOS Iceberg by Arnold Fanck. In the Second World War he taught German soldiers survival techniques in ice and snow.
Там же есть документальная съемка данной экспедиции.
The German Reichsanstalt für Film und Bild in Wissenschaft und Unterricht [Reich Institute for Film and Pictures in Science and Education] released this version of original footage from Alfred Wegener’s Greenland expedition (1930–1931) in 1936. The educational film follows the chronological course of the expedition, the first one to explore the Greenland ice sheet, to study arctic weather and air conditions, and to gain information about numerous geological structures as evidence of Wegener’s continental drift theory.
The film footage shows the polar explorers’ passage to Greenland, their arrival at the starting point for the ascent of the glacier leading to the inland ice 1,000 m above sea level (Part 1). This is followed by images showing the dangerous ascent of the explorers, carrying tons of equipment, and pictures of initial test rides on motor sleds and with dog sleds on the ice sheet (Part 2). Finally, the film documents the construction of Eismitte, a mid-ice research station, and various measurements carried out in the Arctic: weather observation, ice examination, measuring ice thickness, collecting snow samples from great depth, explosions, and the launching of a weather balloon (Part 3).
Particularly valuable and moving are the final shots of expedition leader Wegener, who died in 1930 on the sled ride from Eismitte to the coast together with his companion, Rasmus Villumsen. The film depicts the search for Wegener as well as the discovery and burial of his corpse in the ice, after his body had finally been found six months later in spring of 1931. At the end of the film, Wegener’s tragic death is glorified and fully aligned with the heroic rhetoric of the late 1930s, quoting one of the most famous lines in the Norse Poetic Edda: “Possession dies, kindred die, you yourself die like them; one thing I know, which will live forever: the dead man’s glorious deeds.”
The filmmakers used a 35mm spring-driven Kinamo movie camera, invented in 1923 by Emanuel Goldberg. Compared to the hand-cranked cinematograph cameras of the time, the compact Kinamo, weighing only one and a half kilograms, allowed flexible, hand-held filming; making it possible to film under extreme weather conditions. Several film versions were made from the footage, both silent and with sound, for broad audiences and for educational purposes.