ANTARCTIC OCEANOGRAPHY 



71 



coast of Kaiser Wilhelm II Land. For this reason the thrusts of 

 warm water that emanate from the tropics must be much greater 

 than the thrusts of cold water that are caused by the inland ice 

 of the Antarctic. 



The Mesothermic Condition of the Polar Seas 



As a consequence of the action of these warming and cooling 

 influences on the ocean waters there is produced in the polar regions, as 



West - Wind Drift Region of the S. Indian 



Inland Drift-ice belt Southern Zone Northern Zone current eddy and calms 



'""^67 64 62 60 55 50 45 40 35 30°S./at. 



West — Wind D rift Region oftheS. Indian 



Drift-ice belt Southern Zone Northern Zone current eddy and calms 



67 64 62 60 55 50 45 40 35 30° Slat. 



Kerguelen Trough s. W. Indian Basin 



Fig. I — Two sections across the southern 

 Indian Ocean northwards from the Antarctic 

 Continent to show the stratification of water, i, 

 surface water; 2, polar water; 3 , tropical water ; 

 4, bottom water. The location of the sections is 

 shown on the inset map. On the sections the 

 parallels of latitude are spaced as on Mercator's 

 projection. On the basis of the distortion that 

 this involves the vertical exaggeration is 200 

 times. (From PI. 8 of work cited in footnote 4.) 



has long been known, a stratification of warm and cold water — a 

 condition to which the term "mesothermic" has been applied. For, 

 whereas in the "anothermic" condition of the warm seas the tem- 

 perature of the water generally decreases downwards, at first rapidly, 

 then slowly — with the slight exception that at a depth of about looo 

 meters a brief inversion takes places as a result of a flat and soon dis- 



