22 JOHAN HJORT. M.-N. Kl. 



with that of the Summer water of the Baltic '^. At the same time heavy 

 gales set in as a rule, which, to some extent, must be presumed to as- 

 sist in forming this mixture, and partly to dam up, by degrees, the 

 Baltic Current in the Skagerak, or even in the Cattegat, while the Bank 

 Water is simultaneously forced right in to the coast. 



Autumn, i8qj. These conditions were especially marked in No- 

 vember 1893. From the Surface Chart for that month (B), it will be 

 seen that the Bank Water lies like a broad belt along the whole of the 

 West Coast. Even far in the Cattegat we find the saltest layer of the 

 Bank Water on the surface. The Atlantic Water too (in consequence 

 of the heavy westerly gales), is unusually diffused over the North Sea, 

 whilst the Baltic Current is quite dammed up in the Cattegat and the 

 Christiania Fjord. 



Down in the deep, the Bank Water will be found in the Norwegian 

 Channel like a wedge shaped layer along the land, and from the out- 

 lines (PI. Ill, Figs. I, 2 & 3) it may be traced from far off Ekersund 

 (Fig. i) up to the mouth of the Sogne Fjord (Fig. 3). The wedge-like 

 formation of the layer is specially marked off the West Coast, where 

 it is, mainly, far deeper in by the shore than further off the coast, 

 whilst at Ekersund, 34 per 1000, the line is almost horizontal, a proof 

 that the Bank Water is there of great thickness. That the saline 

 contents at Station 24, Fig. i, are greater than at Stations 22 and 23, 

 is evidence of the tongue-shaped distribution of the various layers on 

 the surface, of which, too, the Surface Chart also furnishes proofs. 

 The Ekersund Section is made at a point where the direction of 

 the coast turns northward, and Petter sson and Ekman have several 

 times shewn that the fresh layers (here the 32 to 33 layer) divide them- 

 selves at such places into two branches. If one compares the three 

 Sections (Figs, i, 2 and 3) one will perceive that the North Sea layer 

 in the Ekersund Section, is considerably thicker than in the Section off 

 the Hardanger Fjord, and still more so when compared with that off the 

 Sogne Fjord. The North Sea Water thus decreases in thickness north- 

 wards, which may, therefore, also be regarded as being typical of the 

 great admixture of Atlantic Water which occurs in the Skagerak. 

 From the same cause, the Atlantic Water rises higher towards the sur- 



1 From the local investigations given in this book, it cannot be determined to what 

 extent a mixture contributes to the formation of the Bank and North Sea Waters, or 

 to what degree these layers come from other parts. In order to determine this, more 

 knowledge of the North Sea and Northern Ocean than we possess at present would 

 be required. 



