1897] WARM UNDERCURRENT IN ARCTIC OCEAN 49 



This warm undercurrent, after passing Hakluyt's Headland, 

 goes to the N.-E., and some of it may come to the surface in the 

 shallow seas on the western shores of lands lying in that direction. 

 This would account for the fact that Payer found open water and 

 a warmer climate to the north. 



Dv Carpenter, in a paper read at the Royal Institution of Great 

 Britain on March 20, 1874, refers to his theory as "A general 

 oceanic circulation sustained by a difference of temperature alone." 

 In a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society, June 1, 

 1874, he also states his theory in the same terms. It is true that 

 he afterwards admits that difference of salinity will produce a 

 circulation, but then his theory simply becomes Maury's theory. 



Independent of all theory the heaviest water will go to the 

 bottom ; therefore, if there is an oceanic circulation, whatever may 

 be its cause, a warm stream of heavy salt water will flow beneath 

 a cold stream of lighter brackish or fresh water. 



Down the east coast of Greenland there is an Arctic current * 

 about 200 miles broad, bearing on its surface a mighty floating 

 glacier, which extends to Cape Farewell, a distance of 1400 miles. 

 The rate of this current is variously estimated from 5 to 15 miles 

 a day.t 



How is the water and the salt so carried out of the Polar Basin 

 replaced ? Must it not be by an undercurrent of greater specific 

 gravity running into the Polar Basin ? B. Leigh Smith. 



* See Scoresby's " Arctic Regions," Drift of the Hansa. 



t I am anxious to establish the existence of this current, as two great authorities 

 have lately doubted it. I therefore append the following note, dated Feb. 16, 1897, 

 from Mr R. Kinnes, manager of several whalers cruising during the summer season 

 along the east coast of Greenland : — "The drift of the ice down the east coast of Green- 

 land varies from 10 to 12 miles per day, and I think this may be taken as a fair average. 

 If the wind is N.-E. it goes much faster, but with a S.-W. wind it travels eastwards. 

 The pack may vary from 150 to 200 miles in breadth, according to the season. The 

 current travels a little faster than the ice, and to the southward, near Cape Dan, it 

 becomes stronger." I may also add that in 1874 Captain David Gray was up the east 

 coast on the Eclipse, and he sent me the following extract from his log: — "July 24. 

 Found by to-day's observations that we have driven 43 miles S. by W. J W. true in the 

 past three daj-s, and that in the face of fresh winds from S.-W." — B.L.S., May 1897. 



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