- 34 - 



Fig. 4 shows the distribution of the salinity at the bottom. For the North Sea 

 Knudsen's and Smith's Chart has also been used here as basis. As regards the Nor- 

 wegian Sea the Chart makes no claim to being exact in details. Along the bottom the 

 distribution of the Atlantic water is again very much less than in the depth of 150 M., 

 but we notice however that it extends very far towards the north and covers the deeper 

 parts of the Bear Island banks. The 35,2 water has such a distribution on the average, 

 that on the Chart it covers the most northern part of the North Sea with the Tampen 

 area as far down as to 4 — 500 M. depth, on both sides of the Faeroe-Shetland Channel, 

 the Wyville-Thompson Ridge and all the Faeroe banks. On the east side of the Nor- 

 wegian Channel there is also a small area for these average values, where we find the 

 35,2 %o water. We may notice also the fairly large tongues which this salt water form 

 to the south of the Shetland Islands. 



B. Conditions in the different Regions 



1. The Norwegian west coast and the southern part of the Norwegian Sea 



Fig. 5 shows the average distribution of the different water-layers vertically on the 

 west coast of Norway in May. The section goes from the mouth of Sogne Fjord over 

 the Tampen to a point north of the Faeroes. We notice at once that the bottom about 

 the Tampen is covered by the saltest Atlantic water. From the westward a tongue 

 projects in between the Atlantic and the bottom water; it is an offshoot of the East Ice- 

 landic Polar Stream, which at a depth of about 40x3 M. sometimes reaches to the entrance 

 of the Norwegian Channel and perhaps still further. In the area which lies close to the 

 coast we may notice, that there is a layer with well-marked minimum temperature — in 

 May under 6° — at a depth of about 50 M. For the rest great variations are here 

 the rule. 



Fig. 6 gives a schematic representation of the form of the coast, from the deep basin 

 of a fjord and outwards into the deep water of the Norwegian Sea, in its southern part. 

 It has been assumed, that there was a barrier at the entrance to the fjord and this 

 barrier has been drawn on the figure at a depth of about 70 M. Outside this barrier or 

 threshold we have portions of banks alternating with submarine fjords and river-beds, 

 until the entire bottom falls relatively steeply at the deep-sea margin in about. 300 M. 

 depth. This sketch with the shading represented gives a picture of the variations which 

 may occur near the bottom. 



In the littoral region the changes both in the salinity and in the temperature are ex- 

 ceedingly great in the course of the year ; but already at a depth of about 20 — 30 M. the 

 fluctuations almost cease and at a depth of 70—80 M. and more the conditions in such 

 a barrier-fjord are quite uniform. As already mentioned before, the depth of the barrier 

 determines in how far salinities of over 35 °/oo occur in the bottom water of the fjord or not. 



The temperature in the deeper layers of such a barrier-fjord does not vary practic- 

 ally in the course of the year. According to Nordgaard's investigations it seems to 

 correspond to the annual mean temperature of the air. 



Outside the threshold we meet with variations down to a depth of 150 — 200 M. 

 The variations are found on the banks which lie in this depth and consist essentially in 

 the following: the bottom at these depths is in summer generally covered by Atlantic 



