An expert skier, Nansen was making plans to lead the first crossing of the Greenland icecap, an objective delayed by the demands of his academic studies, but triumphantly achieved in 1888 89 . Through these years Nansen remembered the east west Arctic drift theory and its inherent possibilities for further polar exploration, and shortly after his return from Greenland he was ready to announce his plans.
32.
The Arctic Ocean was a deep basin, with no significant land masses north of the Eurasian continent any hidden expanse of land would have blocked the free movement of ice . } } Nansen had proved the polar drift theory; furthermore, he had noted the presence of a Coriolis force driving the ice to the right of the wind direction, due to the effect of the Earth's rotation.
