NO. 13 SALINITY OF PACIFIC SURFACE WATER — CI. ARK 13 



Under the upper layer of comparatively warm water is a cold layer 

 with a specific gravity of 1.0254. 



On account of the quantity of water which flows through the 

 Korean Strait and raises the surface of the Sea of Japan and thai 

 of the Gulf of Tartary above that of the surrounding seas the hulk 

 of the water from the Amur River, instead of turning to the right 

 and flowing to the southward as would naturally be expected, turns 

 to the north, though part of it comes southward along the western 

 shore of the Gulf of Tartary where it causes a considerable dimi- 

 nution of the salinity. In this gulf the water of the lower layers 

 near Sakhalin, below 40 meters, has a higher specific gravity than 

 that near the continent. In the upper layers there is no regularity 

 in the variations so that they are probably the result of the action 

 of winds, local currents, tides, etc. 



Almost the entire central portion of the Sea of Okhotsk has a 

 specific gravity between 1.0245 and 1.0250; near the coasts the 

 water is in general less saline. In the Bay of Oudsk and near Sak- 

 halin the specific gravity is less than 1.0230, showing the influence 

 of small rivers which empty into the southwestern part of the Sea 

 of Okhotsk, and especially of the Amur. Krusenshtern found near 

 the northern end of Sakhalin water with a specific gravity of 1.0130. 



The deeper water of the Sea of Okhotsk is more dense than that 

 nearer the surface ; at a depth of 800 meters it has a specific gravity 

 of 1. 0261, or the same as that of the water which enters through the 

 Strait of La Perouse. As in the Bering Sea this lower stratum of 

 warm water with high salinity is found at a greater depth in the 

 west than in the east, for in both seas there is, along the western 

 coast, a cold current of low salinity which submerges to a great 

 depth the warm water with high salinity. Makaroff believed that the 

 water of the Sea of Okhotsk enters that sea by way of the Strait 

 of La Perouse and not from the Pacific. 



The mean density of the water of the Sea of ( Okhotsk and of all 

 its bays is 1.0242. 



Among the Kuril Islands the surface water is mixed with heavier 

 and much colder water than that occurring on the coast of Kam- 

 chatka, the greatest degrees of salinity and cold being midway 

 between Kamchatka and Japan and not at the northern end of the 

 chain ; this heavy and cold water forms a broader belt on the Pacific 

 than on the Okhotsk Sea side of the islands; it was supposed by 

 Makaroff to be in reality water from the great depths of the Okhotsk 



