i8 4 A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



Similar results were obtained by Miss Kirstine Smith at 

 the Danish lightships Horns Riff and Vyl (west of Esbjerg). 

 Here, again, when the influence of the tidal currents was 

 eliminated, there remains over a current which runs along 

 the reef, following the 2o-metre line. Miss Smith obtained 

 the following results in 1904 : 



NORTH SEA CURRENTS. 



Danish Lights/lips, 1904. 



N.B. 20*5 centimetres per second is about four-tenths of a knot. 



The currents in the Norwegian Deep and the Skager-Rack 

 are determined mainly by the outflowing Baltic Current. Water 

 of low salinity pours out of the Baltic through the Sound, 

 where it runs up along the Swedish side of the Cattegat, 

 forced there by the prevailing west wind and the earth's 

 rotation. At distances of 4 to 6 miles from the land its 

 velocity is from 24 to 48 miles per day. Even the latter total 

 is exceeded in south-west gales. The current here runs against 

 the prevailing wind. This strong northerly current runs up 

 to the Norwegian coast, then it runs west away from the 

 land. Off the Norwegian coast the current receives a good 

 deal of fresh water from the Norwegian fiords, this further 

 reducing its salinity. It is estimated that the sea-level here 

 (between Lindesnaes and Christiania) is 60 centimetres above 

 that north of the Shetlands. So the Baltic Current is well 

 marked over the Norwegian Deep right up to Haugesund, 

 where it is continued as the Norwegian coastal current. On 

 the Bohuslan coast the herrings come in to spawn in the winter 

 months at the same time as the Bank water of 32 to 33 per 

 mille salinity. When this Bank water is forced out by colder 



