The Lomonosov Ridge

This is a map of the ocean floor under the Arctic route Henson & Peary followed to the North Pole. Notice the mountain range like ridge that passes right under the "N" in North Pole. It is interesting how the route to the Pole is at a narrow angle to the underwater ridge. This separates distinct areas of relatively shallow ocean and very deep - up to 3 miles in some places. The deep ocean minimizes tidal and lunar effects on the ice. Explorers from Peary onward have noted that the ocean surface smoothes out and is easier to travel over.

When Peary's team lowered their sounding weight hung on piano wire it did not touch bottom at the end of the 9,000 feet of wire. This was unexpected. The shallow depths (relatively shallow) on the other side of the ridge led everyone to think the entire Arctic Ocean was only a few thousand feet deep. There was even hope that was land near or at the Pole. Yet Peary found nothing. No land and an ocean depth he could not measure.

This is very significant because the major theory that Peary missed the North Pole placed him in the box I have labeled "Theorized Location". But the ocean floor is not that deep there. Peary would have recorded the depth, his sounding wire was long enough. Isn't that amazing? That ridge is a perfect divider between a measurable ocean depth and a "bottomless" one. This proves Henson and Peary were not lost from drifting Westward on the ice.

Copyright© 1999, Bradley Robinson