a. mn > = hå 
mr hon 4 LA 
1906. No. 3. AMUNDSEN'S OCEANOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS IN 1901. 105 
Sea, as its renewal is such an extremely slow process. But it must be 
expected that the renewal of the cold bottom-water of the enclosed North 
Polar Basin, which is like a great fjord, occurs still more slowly, and a 
much smaller quantity of water is required yearly, to feed the circula- 
tion of this water. It is therefore, not improbable that the cold waters, 
with high salinity, formed during the winter in the two above-mentioned 
regions, might be sufficient to maintain this circulation; and it is possible 
that this is a feasible solution for the problem of the origin of the heavy 
bottom-water in the North Polar Basin, in the case of the possibility of 
its coming from the Norwegian Sea being excluded. 
P. S. In 1904 Prof. Otto Pettersson published a paper “on the 
Influence of Ice-Melting upon Oceanic Circulation” 1, which is repeatedly 
cited above. But as Pettersson’s theories in several important respects 
bear upon the subjects discussed in the present paper, they should perhaps 
be somewhat more fully touched upon here. In a somewhat modified 
form Pettersson still upholds his old theory as to the great importance 
of ice-melting in the formation of ocean-currents. 
Formerly? he was of the opinion that it was chiefly the buoyancy 
of the nearly fresh water, formed by the melting of ice, which produced 
the polar current between Iceland and Jan Mayen, whilst the cooling of 
the underlying waters was at the same time of some but less importance. 
But now, after the experiments of Mr. Sandstrom on the effect of ice- 
melting, he has obviously come to the conclusion that it is cooling 
which is of greatest importance; and this certainly seems to be more 
likely. But in one essential respect his standpoint is different now; he 
had previously only touched upon conditions obtaining in the sea between 
Iceland and Jan Mayen, but now he extends his theory to be available 
for all parts of the Ocean whereever ice occurs; even the North Polar 
Basin itself. He seems either to have overlooked the fact that the ice 
which melts must also once have been formed in the sea, or else he 
has misconceived the Polar ice as fresh-water ice from the Siberian 
rivers. It is of course true that river-ice carried into the sea, as well as 
glacial ice, cool the sea somewhat (as the heat disengaged during the 
! Pettersson, Geographical Journal, London, vol. XXIV, 1904, pp. 285—333- 
2 Pettersson, Ofversigt af Kongl. Vet.- Akad. Förhandlingar. 1899, No. 3. Stockholm; 
Ymer, Stockholm, 1900, p. 157— 189; Pett. Mitt. 1900, Heft III and IV. 
