THE CLIMATE OF AUSTRALASIA 



southward over the cold 

 intermediate current 

 flowing to the north. 

 The Challenger Expedi- 

 tion confirmed the exist- 

 ence of the great South 

 Australian current, 

 which was already 

 known to flow in an 

 easterly direction some 

 distance south of the 

 southern coast of Aus- 

 tralia. 



The Valdivia also 

 took a number of obser- 

 vations in the Southern 

 Ocean to show the tem- 

 perature of the sea water 

 at successive depths at 

 the same locality. It 

 found, at 63 S., 54 E., 

 that the surface tem- 

 perature was only 30, 

 so that it was two 

 degrees colder than the 

 freezing point of fresh 

 water. From the depth 

 of five fathoms down to 

 a depth of 54 fathoms, 

 the temperature was 

 below 30 ; at 60 fathoms 

 depth it had risen to 

 31 ; at 71 fathoms it 



