HYDROGRAPHY. IO g 



the Irminger Current. The water brought down from the Polar Current keeps itself continually on 

 the northern & western side of the Atlantic-water, so that it is not removed from the Denmark Strait, 

 and does not come in contact with the coasts of Iceland. 



There is every reason to believe that it really be so, when we look at the isotherms in section VI 

 which are rising to the south-westward, and we likewise take into consideration that the salinity is 

 increasing in the same direction. When there has been spoken about currents in this part 

 of the Atlantic proper (south of the ridge), this is to be understood so, that the 

 whole body of water is moving in a northerly and north-easterly direction with very 

 little velocity. It is not until the current is confined to less width that the velocity is increased, 

 such as it is the case with the Irminger Current and the Gulf Stream in the Northern Sea. 



The assumption that the Irminger Current draws water with it on its northern and western 

 side from the Polar Current, furthermore accounts for the remarkable distribution of the salinity in 

 section VI. Even on the basis of the observations in this section alone, the isohaline 35.25 could 

 certainly have been drawn otherwise, but if we compare this section with section VIII, the form that 

 has been chosen will most likely be the right one. As the Atlantic, at the depths referred to here, 

 has a salinity that is greater than 35-25, the isohaline 35'25 may be regarded as the boundary of 

 the Atlantic water, here accordingly of the Irminger Current. We see thus that the Irminger 

 Current sends two strata of water into the « basin-water », the one stratum over the other, or, if we 

 like to explain it this way, the «basin-water » sends strata of water into the Irminger Current. The 

 « basin-water » must therefore be defined here as water of less salinity than 35*25, the origin of which 

 may be supposed to be the effect of the Polar-water on the Atlantic-water. 



SECTION VII. 



Abreast of Reykjanses ridge 



It can be seen distinctly in this section how the salinity is decreasing from the south-eastward 

 to the north-westward. Those tongues or layers which the Irminger Current sends into the basin- 

 water, and the existence of which was shown by section VI, can be traced again here in section VII. 

 The fact is that maxima of salinity appear in the stations 79 and 80. These maxima cannot be 

 identified on the drawing as they do not attain the value 35-25, but that they exist, must still more 

 lead us to believe in the correctness of the aforesaid assumption. 



The bottom-curve shows the ridge distinctly, and we see that the isotherms in the depth partly 

 follow the shape of the bottom-curve, that is to say, that they have a bend upwards just above the 

 ridge. This may be accounted for by the fact of the water in the depth flowing towards the ridge, 

 so that, on coming into contact with this latter, it has the effect of causing a motion in an upward 

 direction, which forces the isotherms upwards. 



The whole system of currents at the ridge is, however, so complicated, that it would be next 

 to impossible to give a proper and simple explanation of all the peculiarities that have been found by 

 means of the investigations, as the number of these has been too limited to do such a thing. Thus 

 we must leave unanswered why there is such a high temperature (4°5), and so large a salinity (35-33) 

 at the bottom in section 78, or why the salinity close to the bottom in section 79 is so small (34-97); 





