From the Admiralty Islands to Japan. in 



Islands and of the Philippines, and in honour of the first 

 European who crossed the Pacific Ocean. The principal deep- 

 sea communication between this basin and the 3000-fathom 

 area to the eastward is in the narrow sea which flows between 

 the Caroline Islands and the Mariana Islands, where H.M.S. 

 "Challenger" obtained her deepest sounding in 4575 fathoms. 

 The third part of this section, from Station 228 to Station 232, 

 embraces the northern half of the Sea of Magallanes, and is the 

 scene of the encounter between the North Pacific Equatorial 

 Current, here assuming the name of Kuro-Siwo or Japanese 

 Current, and the Arctic Current from the Sea of Okhotsk and 

 the Behring Sea. 



One of the most prominent features of this section is the 

 extensive surface-stratum of warm water of a temperature 

 between 29° C. and 25 C. (84° F. and jf F.), and of a thick- 

 ness of from 70 fathoms to 100 fathoms. This stratum, which is 

 evidence of a vast accumulation of warm water in the western 

 Pacific, is seen to commence at Station 216 with a depth of 75 

 fathoms, increase to 100 and 105 fathoms at Stations 220 and 

 222 in the axis of the Sea of Papua, fall to 75 fathoms and 70 

 fathoms in the southern part of the Sea of Magallanes, and after 

 gradually thinning off to 50 and 15 fathoms at Station 228 and 

 229, to disappear altogether. We now enter the waters of the 

 Arctic Current which comes to the surface at Station 231, but 

 from Station 234 to Station 235 we once more find ourselves in 

 a warm surface-stratum, the northern continuation of the North 

 Pacific Equatorial Current known as the Kuro-Siwo, and which is 

 nothing but the Gulf Stream of the North Pacific Ocean, the Sea of 

 Magallanes being on a larger scale the equivalent of the Gulf 

 of Mexico. 



No two natural phenomena could present a more complete 

 parallelism than that which can be traced between the origin, 

 progress, and ultimate fate of the great thermal currents of the 



