The Three-dimensional Temperature Distribution and its Variation in Time 117 



kg cal/m^. The annual heat budget for the Ionian Sea has been calculated by Hann 

 (1906, 1908) as about 371,000 kg cal/m^; for the sea south of Cyprus he found 426,000, 

 for the Bay of Naples 432,000 and for the Black Sea 482,000 kg cal/m^. In the polar 

 regions the annual heat budget is much smaller. Malmgren (1927) has made corre- 

 sponding calculations for the North Polar Basin; he estimated that the atmosphere 

 received 68,000 kg cal/m^ from the sea annually. This mean annual value was obtained 

 from the difference between the loss of 76,700 kg cal/m^ from September to April 

 and a gain of 8,700 kgcal/m^ from June to August. See Deitrich (1950) for a dis- 

 cussion of the annual variation of heat content in the English Channel. 



4. The Vertical Distribution of Temperature in the Ocean 



Figure 52 shows the vertical temperature distribution for a series of oceanographic 

 stations along a meridional cross-section through the middle and central parts of the 

 Atlantic. The general and common characteristics of the vertical temperature distribu- 



Temperature, °C 



4 8 12 



Fig. 52. Vertical temperature distribution at a series of stations along a meridian in the 



Atlantic Ocean : 



tion thereby stand out clearly. Conditions in the other oceans are also essentially the 

 same. The typical curve for the vertical temperature distribution in the open ocean is ana- 

 thermic, that is it shows a decrease of temperature with increasing depth, though this 

 decrease is not uniform. In latitudes between about 45° S. and 45° N. the thermal 



