Possible
Further Study
Though considerable uncertainty still
surrounds this matter, there are two approaches which, when combined, could
resolve this mystery definitively.
First, a few cooperative weather observers at Gambell can
be trained and equipped to report weather and oceanographic conditions during
storms. In addition, if equipped with
suitable cameras, such observers could document winter storms in their area
with pictures -- a manner in which no words or data can do.
Second, if overhead passes are available during storms,
synthetic aperature radar and quickscat data could provide excellent and
objective coverage of waves and ice cover all around Saint Lawrence
Island. These would be of great use
during storms that may produce such events, as well as candidate storms that do
not. The apparent rarity of
these events -- if indeed they occur -- begs the questions of: (1) do such outbursts of heavy surf really
occur in mid winter at Gambell? and (2)
if so, just what conditions are essential for them and which
apparently necessary conditions are in fact irrelevant? Finally, are the events in the Weddell Sea,
with its deep water and heavier ice cover, at all relevant to the