— To- 

 be highly desirable to have these investigations continued, in order to obtain 

 a more extensive material for purposes of comparison. 



The chief part of the warm and salt Atlantic water which pours into 

 the Norwegian Sea, comes through the Fseroe-Shetland Channel; only a compa- 

 ratively small quantity comes in through the waterway between the Fœroes 

 and Iceland, as the East-Icelandic Polar-current here bars the way. Within 

 the Norwegian Sea the Gulf Stream has a highly irregular Crosssection, and 

 at times the current even seems to divide into several branches. It is sepa- 

 rated from the coast of Norway by a belt of considerably fresher water, which 

 is greatly mixed by the introduction of fresh water from the land. This 

 coastal water extends in spring and summer far out to sea as a thin surface 

 layer, drawing in towards land in autumn and winter, and as the same time 

 increasing in depth. 



The hydrographical investigations in the Barents Sea have given a view, 

 in certain respects considerably detailed, of the annual course of the temperature 

 and salinity in the different parts of the region, especially in the south western 

 part, along the Murman coast and in the North Gape current. The various 

 branches into which the Gulf Stream divides, side by side with cold arctic 

 currents, and at the same time, great differences between the various coastal 

 regions themselves, combine to make of the geographical conditions an extremely 

 varied an comphcated picture, which remains, on the whole unaltered from year 

 to year. There are, however, in the details hereof not unimportant changes 

 in the different years, and these play in particular an important part in the 

 branches of the Gulf Stream and their continuations as submarine currents. 

 According as these branches are of greater or lesser power in the individual 

 years, the cümate, conditions of ice, and the fisheries are influenced thereby. 



3. Kattegat and Skagerak. 



In the bottom water of the Skagerak, which has over 35 '/oo of salt, the 

 salinity has a distinct annual period, with an average minimum in May and 

 a maximum in the time from November — February. In the middle of the 

 Skagerak the mean salinity varies for the layer between 100 and 400 m., from 

 abt. 35,03 "/oo in May to abt. 35,13 "/oo in Nov. — Febr. Such salt water never 

 penetrates into the Kattegat, where the bottom salinity at most places has an 

 average of < 34V2 %o- And in the greater part of the Great Belt the bottom 

 salinity is continually under 32 «/oq. The surface salinity has everywhere an 

 annual course with minimum in May — June and maximum in winter, while 

 the bottom salinity has an opposite period; thus on Schultz's Grund at m. 



