I912. No. 12. THE SEA WEST OF SPITSBERGEN. 



51 



The Bottom-Water. 



The temperatures observed in the bottom-water at the stations of the 

 Isachsen Expedition agree on the whole very well with those observed 

 during the Belgica Expedition in 1905, and by Roald Amundsen in 1901. 



In the region investigated by Amundsen, where the bottom-water is 

 formed at the surface, he observed, with his Richter reversing thermometer, 

 temperatures of — 1.30 and — 1.26'^ C. at 2000 metres. 



At the Belgica stations (23 — 26) in the region west of Isachsen's Sec- 

 tion IV, between 76° 28' and 77^25' N., temperatures between — 1,28 

 and — I -300 C. were observed near the bottom in depths between 2300 

 and 3000 metres, and at Stat. 27 a, a temperature of — 1.31^ C. was ob- 

 served at 1700 metres, 30 metres above the bottom. 



The observations in 2000 metres at the Isachsen stations were not 

 so close to the bottom^ and it is not therefore to be expected that the}' 

 would give such low temperatures as the above. The one which was 

 probabl}' nearest to the bottom was at Stat. 27 (see Sect. IV). The tem- 

 perature observed was — 1.28° C. which agrees remarkabl}' well with the 

 above bottom-temperatures of the Belgica Expedition, and also with those 

 of Amundsen. At Stat. 26 a temperature of — ^1.26° C. was observed 

 at 2000 metres which, however, was evidently not so near to the bottom 

 as that of Stat. 27, but probably nearer than those of the other stations. 

 The other observations in 2000 metres at the stations of 1910 gave higher 

 temperatures, between — 1.15 and — 1.24 ^ C. (See Fig. 39). 



The salinities of the bottom-water found at the Isachsen stations vary 

 between 34.87 and 34.93 %o, but are on the whole comparatively low, 

 being to a great extent between 34.88 and 34.90 in depths exceeding 

 1200 metres. As a rule they are especially low where the temperatures 

 are low; and where the temperature is below — 1.15° C. the salinity is 

 below 34.90 %o except at Stats. 25 and 26, where the salinity was found 

 to be 34.92 and 34.91 %q with temperatures of — 1.17 and — 1.260 C. 

 at 2000 metres. The low salinities with the low temperatures agree vv'ell 

 with Amundsen's observations, the salinities at his stations for depths exce- 

 ding 1000 metres varying between 34.88 and 34.93° oo» but being most 

 frequently 34.90 and 34.89 %o, with temperatures about — 1.3 ^ C. 



The salinities of the cold bottom-water at the Belgica stations are most 

 frequently 34.92 %0) ^nd in a few cases 3491 and 34.90*^/00. There are, 

 however, no observations of the salinity at greater depths than 1800 metres, 

 and it is possible that somewhat lower values would have been found at 

 the greater depths near the bottom where the temperature sank to — 1.28 



