I9I2. No. 12. THE SEA WEST OF SPITSBERGEN. I7 



with salinities above 35.00 "'oo has consequent!}^ had very nearly the same 

 depth in both sections from two different years, 1900 and 1910. 



In the section of September, 1900, there is at all three stations a 

 small volume of Atlantic water with salinities about and above 35.10 "00 

 in depths of between 60 and 100 metres. There are no such high salinités 

 in Section I of June, 1910. There are, however, indications of a maximum 

 of about 35.06 "00 and 35.08 °'oo in about 100 metres at Stats. 2, 3 and 5. 

 There are indications of another maximum of 35.08 and 35.09 *^ 00 near 

 the surface, c. g. at Stats. 2 and 4; but the latter maximum will disappear 

 later in the summer, when the salinities of the surface-layers are always 

 much reduced. This is also proved by the observations at Stats. 3 and 4 

 on September 9th, 1910; the surface-salinity had then been lowered to 

 34.97 "^ 00 at Stat. 4, and to 34.56^00 at Stat. 3, while there was a maxi- 

 mum of 35.08^' 00 in about 100 metres (also in 50 and 200 m.) at Stat. 3 

 and 35.06 ° 00 at Stat. 4 (between 50 and 200 m.). There is consequently 

 a great similarity also in this respect between Hjort's section of September, 

 1900, and Isachsen's Section I of June and September, 1910. 



We found that the maximum salinity of the waters of the Atlantic 

 Current had decreased on their northward way from about 35.31 — 35.37 ^ 00 

 in the Sognetjord-section, to about 35.21 — 35.25 %o in the Lofoten-section, 

 /. e. a decrease of o.ii ^ oo- The maximum salinity of Hjort's section 

 westward from Bear Island, of Sept., 1900, was 35.12 — 35.15 ^'oo- This 

 is a decrease of o.io '^' od from the Lofoten-section. The maximum 

 salinities of Isachsen's sections I, II and III are 35.06 — 35.09 *^ oo- This 

 is a decrease of 0.16 ^'00 from the Lofoten-section and 0.06 "^'oo from the 

 Bear Island section. The distance between the Sognefjord-section and the 

 Lofoten-section is about 360 nautical miles, between the latter and the 

 Bear Island section 450 miles, and between the Bear Island section and 

 Isachsen's Sect. II about 120 miles. The decrease of salinit}- would then 

 be in the first case 0.03 " qq m 100 miles, in the second case 0.02 ''00 in 

 100 miles, and in the last case about 0.05 %o in 100 miles ^ 



Isachsen's sections farther north show a similar decrease in the maxi- 

 mum salinity northwards. In his Section IV it was 35.03 ^/pQ, in Section VI 

 35.04 " 00» in Section VII 35.02 "on, and in Section Mil it was 35.00 "qq. 

 It is on the whole a gradual decrease northwards, of about 0.08 '^ on be- 



1 Hjort's water-samples of the Bear Island section were brought home in small bottles 

 with cork stoppers. It is thus possible that the salinities of these samples may have 

 been slightly increased by evaporation through the stoppers. This cannot have been 

 the case to the same extent with Isachsen's water-samples, carried in bottles with 

 patent lever stoppers. It is therefore probable that the above difference between the 

 salinities of Hjort's and Isachsen's sections, is a little too great. 



Vid.-Selsk. Skrifter. I. M.-N. Kl. 1912. No. 12. 2 



