I9I5 



^, No. 2. 



SPITSBERGEN WATERS. 



63 





w = 



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At 100 metres we find that the 

 direction of the current was towards 

 the left of the current at 50 metres, 

 the direction forming an angle of only 

 about 154'' with the direction of the 

 surface-drift. This agrees ■«ith the 

 observations made by Professor Hel- 

 land-Hansen to the south of the 

 Azores, during the cruise of the 

 "Michael Sars" in 1910. He found 

 that the direction of the current tur- 

 ned continuously towards the right 

 with increasing depht down to a cer- 

 tain level at more than 50 metres, 



below which the shifting was reversed, so that the direction was 

 more and more towards the left with increasing depth. In our 

 case the level where the shiftmg was reversed, may have been 

 somewhere between 50 and 100 metres, which may also have 

 been similar to that obser\-ed by Professor Heiland-Hansen. 



The cause of this • phenomenon may be that in the upper 

 layer of the sea the greatest velocity of the current is generally 

 found near the surface and gradually decreases downwards, and 

 in that case we should naturally expect a gradual deflection of 

 the direction of the current towards the right with increasing 

 depth. But if there be another current in a deeper layer with 

 a secondary ma.ximum of velocity the direction of the water- 



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