394 Chapter VII. 



to me that things are really looking brighter. The 

 reasoning runs as follows : The temperature of the 

 water in the East Greenland current, even on the 

 surface, is nowhere over zero (the mean temperature for 

 the year), and appears generally to be i C. (30' 2 F.), 

 even in 70 N. lat. In this latitude the temperature 

 steadily falls as you get below the surface : nowhere at a 

 greater depth than 100 fathoms is it above i c C., and 

 generally from 1-5 (29-30 F.) to 17 C. (28-94 F.) 

 right to the bottom. Moreover, the bottom temperature 

 of the whole sea north of the 6oth degree of latitude is 

 under i C., a strip along the Norwegian coast and 

 between Norway and Spitzbergen alone excepted, but 

 here the temperature is over i C., from 86 fathoms 

 (160 metres) downward, and 135 fathoms (250 metres) 

 the temperature is already + 0-55 C. (32-99 F.), and 

 that, too, be it remarked, north of the Soth degree 

 of latitude, and in a sea surrounding the pole of 

 maximum cold. 



This warm water can hardly come from the Arctic Sea 

 itself, while the current issuing thence towards the south 

 has a general temperature of about 1*5 C. It can 

 hardly be anything other than the Gulf Stream that finds 

 its way hither, and replaces the water which in its upper 

 layers flows towards the north, forming the sources of 

 the East Greenland polar current. All this seems to 

 chime in with my previous assumptions, and supports the 

 theory on which this expedition was planned. And 



