38 FRIDTJOF NANSEN. M.-N. Kl. 



and they both gave the same salinity, differing only 0.002 / 00 . At 500 

 metres the temperature was 1.41 C. and the salinity 34.93 / 00 . At 400 

 metres the salinity was 34.91 /oo> an d the temperature was i.68C. Two 

 water-samples were taken from each of these depths. The water observed 

 at 400 and 500 metres must be chiefly Atlantic water that is carried north- 

 wards with the Atlantic Current west of Spitsbergen, and which we also 

 observed at the Stations 19 and 41 to the north of western Spitsbergen. 



The cold water at 580 metres is evidently of the same kind as the 

 deep-water filling the North Polar Basin. We thus come to the con- 

 clusion that the salinity of the latter cannot be much above 34.90 / 00 , or 

 exactly the same as the salinity of the cold deep-water of the Norwegian 

 Sea. I found a somewhat higher salinity 34.916 o/oo 1 , with a somewhat 

 higher temperature, 0.90 C., at 610 metres at Station 19, north of Spits- 

 bergen farther west. At Stat. 41, north-east of Stat. 19, 34.91 / 00 was 

 found, with a still higher temperature of i.o8C, at 530 metres. 



These salinities obtained by very accurate determinations are much 

 lower than the values given by the many determinations of the deep-water 

 of the North Polar Basin during the Fram expedition in 189396. By a 

 revision of our determinations, made with the hydrometer during that ex- 

 pedition, I came to the conclusion [1906, p. 100] that the salinity of the 

 deep water of the North Polar Basin should have been about 35.io/ 00 , 

 a value which, however, seemed to me to be higher than was probable; 

 and at the same time I pointed out that the determinations of the water- 

 samples brought home by Doctor BLESSING, and taken at 800 and 850 

 metres in the North Polar Basin, gave salinities of 34.99 /o an< ^ 35-oi % > 

 which seem to be nearer the value that might be probable. I also pointed out 

 that if these water-samples had been exposed to any evaporation, especially 

 while placed for sterilization in boiling water for half an hour, before being 

 finally closed and soldered with paraffin wax, the salinity of the samples 

 may originally have been somewhat lower, and we then approach the 

 value of the deep-water of the Norwegian Sea. This has evidently been 

 the case. 



The salinity of the deep-water of the North Polar Basin should con- 

 sequently be about 34.905 / 00 . Perhaps it is sligthly lower, because this 

 salinity was found with a temperature of 0.43 C. at 580 metres, at Station 

 36, while at greater depths in the North Polar Basin the temperature is 

 lower, below zero, and in the Norwegian Sea we find that as a rule the 



See my remarks on the values of salinity of the two water-samples from this depth, 

 above p. 8. 



