HM 



havde bele denne Sommer et for de besøgte Farvande vist- 

 nok usædvanligt smukt Vejr, der ikke alene tillod. at der 

 blev arbejdet paa saamange flere Stationer end den første 

 Sommer, men Arbejdet paa liver enkelt Station blev ud- 

 fort med Ro og Lethed. og der var fuld Anledning for 

 Zoologerne til strax at foretage ile foreløbige og som oftest 

 vigtigste Iagttageiser, hvilket det hyppigt det første Aar 

 blev aldeles umuligt at udføre paa Grund at' Skibets vold- 

 somme Bevæeelser. 



1878. 



Den for dette Aar vedtagne Plan. der ledsagedes ai 

 et Kart over de eventuelle Stationer. var saalydende: 



Ved Expeditionens Rejser i 1876 og 1877 ere Under- 

 søgelserne a f det norske Hav i de Retninger, der ere Expe- 

 ditionens Formaal. naaede til den. 7 Ide Breddegrad. Hvad 

 der staar tilbage. er saaledes den nordenfor den nævnte 

 Breddegrad liggende Del af det europæiske Isbav, der om 

 Sommeren er navigabel uden Hindringer, foraarsagede 

 ved Is. 



Den Del af dette Hav. der ligger mellein Nordkap, 

 Spidsbergen. Novaja- Serolja og Nord -Rusland — kaklet 

 Østishavet. Novaja-Semlja-Havet eller det Murmanske Hav 

 — vides ifølge Observationer fra Finmarkens Kyster og 

 fra Havet søndenom og østenom Beeren-Eiland at være 

 for bele den sydlige og vestlige Dels Vedkommende fyldt 

 med Vand.' der holder Varmegrader. Det synes at være 

 fra dette Hav at Lodden, der giver Finmarken sit bekjendte 

 Vaartorsktiske . kommer ind tjl den norske Kyst. Da 

 Grændsen for begge disse Fiskearters Vandring antagelig 

 er omtrent der. hvor det varme Vand ved Havbunden af- 

 løses af iskoldt Vand. maa det ansees for at være af stor 

 Interesse at faa bestemt, i alle Fald i større Omrids, Be- 

 liggenbeden af den Linie. der betegner Grændsen mellem 

 det varme og det iskolde Vand ved Havbunden i Østisha- 

 vet samt de øvrige fysiske og biologiske Forhold paa begge 

 Sider af denne Grændse. Forholdene ere her i mange 

 Henseender overensstemmende med dem paa Kystbankerne 

 paa Norges Vestkyst, men vise ogsaa Forskjelligheder der- 

 fra og frembyde saaledes et Felt for Studiet af' saavel Hav- 

 stromningernes Natur som af Dyrelivets Forhold, der er 

 af hoj Betydning for disses Forklaring i sin Almindelighed. 



Til at lette denne Undersøgelse tjener for det første 

 den Omstændighed, at Østishavet er forholdsvis grundt — 

 de største Dybder naa ikke 300 Favne. Desuden er Nord- 

 grændsen for det varme Vand ved Bunden paa en større 



Den norske Nordtiavsexpedition. C. Wille: Expeditionens Historie. 



temperatures. Throughout the entire season the weather 

 eontinued remarkably rine for the high latitudes in which 

 the Expedition bad to cruise; and tbis fortunate circum- 

 stance admftted not only of our extending the exploratory 

 work to a greater aumber of observing-«tations tban the 

 year before, — at every single station. tbis could in conse- 

 quence be accomplished with precision and comparative 

 facilitv ; moreover, ample opportunity was afforded tbe 

 zoologists of instituting on sbip-board their preliroinary and. 

 as a rule. most important observationsT which, on the pre- 

 ceding cruise, had so frequently proved impossible, owing 

 to the violent motion of the vessel. 



1878. 



The Scheme approved for tbis year. to which bad 

 been appended a Diagram showing tbe position of each 

 observing-station. ran as follows : — 



As the result of its cruises in 1876 and 1877, the 

 Expedition has investigated the Norwegian Sea in the 

 several directions tbat bad necessarily to be. tåken for the 

 attainment of the object propose,d, up to the 7 Ist para Ilel of 

 latitude. Hence. what remains to be explored is the tract 

 of the Arctic Ocean in Europe stretcbing north of the said 

 line. and which in the summer months may be navigated 

 witbout impediment from ice. 



The section of tliis ocean-basin lying between the 

 North Cape. Spitzbergen. Novaja Zemlja. and Northern 

 Rassia - - differently designated as the East Arctic Ocean. 

 the Novaja Zemlja Sea. the Murman Sea. and the Barentz 

 Sea —is known, from observations instituted on the coasts 

 of Finmark and in the open sea south and east of Beeren 

 Eiland. to be tilled with water of a tempera ture above 0° 

 throughout the soutliern and western tracts. It is from 

 this sea. apparently. tbat the capelan. the little tish to 

 which Finmark is indebted for her spring cod-fishery, 

 repairs to the Norwegian coast. The boundary that marks 

 the migratory distribution of these two tishes, lying. we have 

 reason to believe. about where the warm and cold bottoin- 

 water meet. it is obviously of great importance to determ- 

 ine — if not in detail, at least broadly — the line bound- 

 ing the warm and cold areas at the bottom of the East 

 Arctic Ocean, together with the physical and biological 

 conditions dominant on éither side. The general conditions 

 there have in many respects not a little in common with 

 those of the coastal banks off the western shores of Nor- 

 way: but. differiug materially in some. they present, as re- 

 gards the nature of ocean-currents and the conditions of 

 animal life. a specially valuable tield of elucidative research. 



Exploratory work in this tract will be much facilitated 

 hy reason of the comparative shallowness of the East Arc- 

 tic Ocean. -- the greatest depths not even reaching 300 

 fathoms. Besides. the uorthern boundary of the warm 



