I9I2. No. 12. THE SEA WEST OF SPITSBERGEN. 6l 



The Swedish ocean ographers [Svenska Hydr.-Biol. Komm. 191 1, pp. 10 

 ct seq. have given a very different explanation of the conditions in the 

 Ice Fjord. We have already mentioned their view of the origin of the 

 intermediate layer with a temperature minimum, which they think is due 

 to the melting of ice. They also believe that the bottom-water of the 

 fjord is formed in a similar manner, a view which we think is sufficientl3' 

 disproved by the several vertical series of observations which thev them- 

 selves have published. All these series (with the exception of a few in 

 the innermost closed ends of the fjord) show a gradual and steady increase 

 of the density, and with a few exceptions of the salinity also, from the 

 surface-layers towards the bottom, which would not be possible if the 

 bottom-water were continually being formed by contact of the water with 

 ice in the upper strata. The Swedish Station LX, of August 17th, 1908, 

 in Klaas Billen Bay, in front of the Xordenskiöld Glacier, and Stat. XX\' 

 in Dickson Bay demonstrate clearly how the vertical distribution of tempe- 

 rature, salinity, and density would be \n a closed Qord where the bottom- 

 water has been formed by cooling. The trough of Klaas Billen Bay is 

 about 200 metres deep, and is separated from the basin of the Ice Fjord 

 by a sill with a probable saddle-depth of about 60 or 70 metres. The 

 hollow of Dickson Bay is about 100 metres deep and is separated from 

 the Ice Fjord by a sill probably about 50 metres deep. By the cooling of 

 the sea-surface during the winter, the water of these hollows has become 

 nearly homogeneous as regards temperature and salinity, in the deeper 

 strata down to the bottom, the temperatures being very low, about — 1-75*' C 

 in Klaas Billen Bay and — 1.63'^ C. in Dickson Bay, and the salinities 

 about 34.54^00 and 34.27''. 00. On August 17th and 26th, 1908, when 

 the observations were taken, the upper strata, above the level of the sills, 

 had acquired much higher temperatures (rising to 527 '^ and 3.62'' C. on 

 the surface) and lower salinities, owing to the heating from above, the 

 river- water from land, and the melting of the ice; but at the end of the 

 winter there has probably been a uniform vertical distribution of tempe- 

 rature and salinity in these basins. The observations at Hjort's Stat. 90 

 (of July 2oth, 1 90 1 1 in Sassen Bay, indicate similar conditions. The \\-inter- 

 water was found at 80 metres with a temperature of — 0.88 ° C. and a 

 salinity of 34.50 'Voo, while the water at 50 and 25 metres had already 

 taken on higher temperatures. 



The Swedish authors believe that the cold bottom-water in Klaas 

 Billen Ba}- has been formed by the contact with the ice-wall of the Xorden- 

 skiöld Glacier. It is obvious that the contact with the glacier ice must 

 have a cooling effect upon the sea-water, although the ice may have a 



