OCEANOGRAPHY OF SEA OF GREENLAND—DAMAS. BTS! 
attempted again to cross the polar current. The expedition was then 
at the latitude where the sounding of 1,425 meters mentioned above 
was accomplished. 
This new effort seemed destined to succeed. It brought an in- 
teresting first result; the discovery of a bank situated off Greenland 
(at a depth of 58 to 100 meters) which was later designated as the 
Bank of the Belgica, and in the center of which, according to Com- 
mander de Gerlache, there perhaps rises an island. By this it was 
established that here the Greenland continental platform is enor- 
mously extended, and if one follows upon our chart the line of the 
1,500-meter contour which marks the base of this platform, he sees 
that it extends in a much more northeasterly direction—that is, in 
the direction of Spitzbergen—than does the coast of Greenland. It 
is very probable that this is the first appearance of the relief which 
Nansen supposed to exist. 
The crossing of the polar currents having been again rendered im- 
possible by the abundance of ice, and the season being advanced, 
Commander de Gerlache resolved to turn southward. Laying his 
course between the land ice and the polar currents, the Belgica 
worked out of the ice and traversed again, and not without difficulty, 
the polar current at the meridional limit of the Greenland Sea. 
As is seen, this voyage of the Belgica lay wholly to the northwest of 
all previous expeditions. There may thus be formed a more com- 
plete idea of the depths and the hydrographic régime of the Sea of 
Greenland. This problem had already been touched upon, and par- 
ticularly by Nansen. In his memoir entitled “Northern Waters” 
he had shown the results of the studies of all the material collected 
up to 1905 concerning the Greenland Sea, and particularly the re- 
sults of the examination of the material that Amundsen had brought 
together during the trial voyage of the Gjéa. It was especially 
from a study of these materials that Nansen has been brought to 
admit the existence of the Spitzbergen-Greenland relief. 
It is therefore of great interest to consider the observations of the 
Belgica as a check, confirmatory or otherwise, of the theories and 
conclusions of Nansen. It is the best proof of their correctness. 
What, before alf* else, characterizes the Sea of Greenland is the 
presence of a sheet of surface ice in its western part. In winter this 
sheet is extended toward the east and covers the larger part of the 
oceanographic region. This extension is due to the freezing of the 
water in situ; the ice thus formed is composed of horizontal layers 
and never attains a great thickness. It remains where formed; that 
is to say, in the midst of the Greenland Ocean, until the beginning of 
summer, when it begins to melt. Its eastern margin progressively 
and irregularly retreats toward the west. This ice, born as it were 
in the Sea of Greenland, is designated under the name of bay ice. 
