CURRENT-BOTTLES. 



ntes; this bottle must therefore have drifted with a speed of at least 2,4 miles in 24 hours and 

 there is reason to believe, that the speed has been even greater judging by bottle no. 8. The last 

 mentioned bottle was found on the Faeroe-Islands about 2*/a months after it had been thrown and it 

 has accordingly travelled with a speed of at least 4,0 miles during 24 hours, from which it may 

 be concluded, that the speed of the surface-water of the East-Icelandic current is at least as great 

 The two current-bottles no. 20 and no. 8 and especially the latter have been found so soon after they 

 were thrown, that it may be concluded, that they have not made any circuit worth speaking of in 

 passing between their throwing- and landing-places. The same may be supposed as regards bottle 

 110.5, which was found at Bergen about 8 months after it had been thrown. If it be supposed, that 

 this bottle has travelled southwards to the Fseroe-Islands and then to Bergen, its average speed will 

 have been at least 2,9 miles during 24 hours. If it be supposed in the same way, that bottle no. 15 

 has travelled as shown on the chart, its average speed will have been at least 3,3 miles during 24 

 hours and the average speed of bottle no. 12 has been about the same. 



As regards the other bottles, which have been found much more to the North and much later, 

 it may be supposed, that they have been found long after landing or after having reached their place 

 of landing, where local currents have kept them drifting about; it cannot be supposed, that they have 

 travelled once round the North-Atlantic, before they have reached the Western coast of Norway, as 

 this would mean a rotation-speed, which is quite out of the question. 



Some of the routes of the bottles West of the Faeroe-Islands cross each other; all the bottles 

 having been thrown in the same kind of water , i. e. in the East-Icelandic Polar-current and with so 

 short intervals, that it could hardly be supposed, that two bottle-routes would cross each other in the 

 open sea, such crossings could only take place near the shore and could only be occasioned by the 

 circumstance, that one bottle lands, while the other remains distant from the coast, or that one of the 

 bottles is caught by a special coast-current, while the other does not reach so far, or finally, that one 

 bottle is kept near the coast for some time, while the current, which runs along the coast, changes 

 its direction. These remarks apply to the routes taken by bottles no. 17, 18 and 20. 



If it be supposed, that the drifting of the bottles has been approximately as indicated in the 

 chart, we shall find, that the water of the East-Icelandic Polar-current between 65 and 70 Northern 

 latitude has moved in a southwesterly direction towards the North-Eastern coast of Iceland. A 

 movement in such a direction will cause a dimiiiuation of the Polar-current-area between Iceland and 

 Jan Mayen as Gulfstream-water must follow from the East and North-East It is generally known, 

 that the Polar-currents usually diminish during the summer and have their smallest extent at the 

 beginning of the autumn and we learn accordingly from the drifting of the bottles, that this increase 

 of the Gulfstream and decrease of the Polar-current owe their existence to the fact, that the surface- 

 water in the East-Icelandic Polar-current moves towards the South-West, and with the surface-water goes 

 probably partly the whole icewater stratum. As it has been pointed out in « Hydrography*, page 122, 

 it cannot be expected, that the understratum of the Polar-current, which at its Eastern side consists of 

 Gulfstream-water, participates in this movement of the icewater to any marked extent While the 

 whole bulk of icewater in this way alters its extent from one season to the other, the very uppermost 

 part of the icewater, the real surface-stratum, which during the summer is considerably warmed up, as 



