20 BJØRN HELLAND-HANSEN A.\D FRIDTJOF NANSEN. M.-N. Kl. 



The salinities here agree well with the salinities of 1910. Hjort's 

 Stat. 84 was very nearly in the same latitude as Isachsen's Stat, i, and 

 one degree of Longitude farther east. At the latter station the salinities 

 were 35-00 "^ 00 in 100 metres, and 35.07 °/oo in 200 metres. At Hjort's 

 station the salinity was 35.00 %o in 200 metres. Hjort's Stat. 85 was 

 some distance northeast of Isachsen's Stat, i, and the salinities (between 100 

 and 280 metres) do not exceed 34.97 °/oo, exceptât 150 metres where 35.14 ° uu 

 was observed, which is, how^ever, obviously erroneous, as is proved by the 

 density. There has evidently been some evaporation through the cork 

 stopper of the bottle in which this water-sample was brought home. 



At these stations near Bear Island, the salinities of 1901 may conse- 

 quently seem to have been somewhat lower than those of 1910; but this 

 may be explained b}' the fact that Hjort's stations of 190 1 were farther 

 east and nearer the Bear Island Platform than Isachsen's station of 1910. 

 The temperatures at Hjort's station were also considerabl}^ lower than at 

 Isachsen's. 



Hjort's Stat. 92 was a short distance north of Isachsen's Stat. 13, 

 but the salinities were on the whole much higher, and agree better with 

 the salinities observed at Isachsen's Stat. 11 (and other stations of Sections 

 II and 1) farther south. The temperatures at Stat. 92 of 1901, were higher 

 than those of Stats. 12 — 14 of June, 1910, but somewhat lower than those 

 of Stat. II. This may indicate that at Stats. 12-14 there has been more 

 admixture of the water of the Spitsbergen Polar Current than at Stat. 92 

 of 1901, while the agreement between the salinities of Stat. 92 and Stat. 11 

 (and other stations of Sections II and I) of 1910 proves that there has 

 been very little difterence in the salinity of the Atlantic water in the 

 two years. 



The salinities at Stat, i of the De Geer Expedition, of September 2nd, 

 1908, may seem to have been somewhat (about 0.05 %o) higher than at 

 Isachsen's Stats. 28 and 29 to the north ^, while at Hamberg's Stat, L, of 

 July 25th, 1898, farther north [Hamberg, 1906, p. 37] the salinities of the 

 upper strata may seem to have been much the same as at these stations 

 of Isachsen's ; but Hamberg's values of salinity are evidently too high, 

 at least those of the deep strata, as is proved by his salinities of the cold 

 bottom-water. In depths of 1000, 1770, 2000, 2700, 2750, and 3160, 

 where the temperatures were between — 0.2'^ C. or — 0.6^ C. (in 1000 



^ It is not stated in the paper of „Svenska Hydrografisk-Biologiska Kommissionen" [191 1] 

 how the water-samples were taken, in what kind of bottles they were brought home, 

 and when they were titrated. We do not, therefore, know what the degree of accuracy- 

 may be, and how far the possibility of evaporation of the samples has been avoided. 



