HYDROGRAPHY. n g 





water is driven away from the coast. Finally the cold layer of ice-water which is charac- 

 teristic to the Polar-water, can be seen in the northern part of section XIV. 



SECTION XV. 



From station 122 in a north-easterly direction. 



This section is throughout one of the most typical sections of the Polar-water. The salinity 

 is very small at the surface. The 35-00 isohaline is met with at a depth of 100 fathoms (188 metres), 

 somewhat deeper in the western than in the eastern part of the section. At a depth of about 300 fathoms 

 (565 metres) the salinity attains its greatest value, and decreases from this depth towards the bottom, so that 

 it becomes less than 35-00 at very large depths. As this falling off towards the depth is taking place 

 exceedingly slowly, it will be impossible to indicate the lowermost 35-00 isohaline with exactness. 



In the upper stratum of water (the ice-water) is found a smaller stratum with a temperature 

 lower than o°. The o° isotherm is a closed curve on the figure, which shows that the ice-water loses 

 its characteristicai properties towards both ends of the section. To make it disappear entirely, 

 would be required that the salinity should exceed 35-00; and this is, as it can be seen, far from 

 being the case. 



At the stations 122 and 121, which are lying nearest the coast, the maximum temperatures are 

 higher than at the stations lying more easterly, a similar distribution being the case at station 123 in 

 section XIV. It may therefore be supposed that the ice-water — after it has altered its 

 direction of motion near the northern coast of 7cc/a?«rf — without meeting any obstruc- 

 tion is flowing the to the eastward, and afterwards to the southward along the coast 

 of Iceland. This discloses itself in section XV by the bent i° and 2° isotherms in connection with 

 the deep lying 35-00 isohaline in the western part of the section. In the line e, formed by intersection 

 between the sections XV and XVIII, the temperatures and the salinities are fixed by the points of 

 intersection between the line e and respectively isotherms and isohalines in section XVIII. 



The isotherms in the under-layer, by which is understood here the whole body of water lying 

 below the uppermost 35'00 isohaline, have a tolerably parallel course. They bend a little towards t\ 

 thus it can also be traced in the under-layer that e is lying nearer the warmer and Salter water which 

 is found in the eastern part of the basin of the Northern Sea. Furthermore it can be seen, that in 

 the under-layer, the western part of the section has a higher degree of salinity than the eastern one. 

 It may be supposed that this is due to the Lrminger Current, which, as we know, disclosed itself by 

 an almost closed 35-00 isohaline. Thus the effects of the lrminger Current, though they be 

 weak, can still be traced as far to the eastward as in section XV 



SECTION XVI. 



From Cape Langantes in an easterly direction. 

 This section is, upon the whole, similar to section XV The uppermost 35-00 isohaline is here 

 lying a little deeper than in the former section, and thus the layer of ice-water has a greater thick- 

 ness. The uppermost o° isotherm is again here a closed curve, from which appears that the ends of 

 the section approach the limits of the ice-water. Station 101 has in comparison with the more easterly 



