DISTRIBUTION OF HYDROGEN IONS IN THE SEA 



29 



are available from each ocean and at this depth in the 

 Atlantic the pH was about the same as at 2000 meters, 

 namely, 7.9, but in the Pacific it was between 7.8 and 7.9. 



Palitzsch (1912), at a station west of Portugal, found 

 the water at 2000 meters to have a pH of 7.95. Atkins 

 (1925) later determined the pH at 2000 meters in prac- 

 tically the same locality and found it to be 7.94. The 

 Carnegie observations in the same latitude, but farther 

 ■west, agree well with these results (see table 2, sta- 

 tions 3 and 5; I-B, pp. 183-257). Between the equator 

 and latitude 20° north in the Atlantic, Wattenberg (1927b) 

 found that at 2000 meters the pH, not corrected for tem- 

 perature, generally ranged between 7.8 and 7.9. 



As stated on page 16, the Carnegie data show the 

 phosphate content of the deep water of the Pacific to 

 be greater than that of the North Atlantic. No doubt the 

 explanation given for this difference applies, in general, 

 also in the case of pH. In discussing the phosphate con- 

 tent as observed by the Carnegie , it was pointed out that 

 a large part of the water that goes to make up the deep 

 water of the North Atlantic is derived from the surface 

 in the central part of the North Atlantic where the phos- 



phate content is low. In this area the pH is high. In the 

 region centered about Carnegie station 18 in latitude 29° 

 47' north, longitude 40° 36' west, a depression of the 

 lines of equal pH was found. This accords with the theo- 

 ry that in this area the surface water is sinking. 



The comparative amounts of phosphate in the Arctic 

 and the Antarctic were also discussed and, according to 

 the available information, the Antarctic has the higher 

 phosphate content. There appears to be a similar dif- 

 ference between the Arctic and the Antarctic with re- 

 spect to the pH. Brujewicz (1931) in his extensive in- 

 vestigations of the Barents Sea rarely found pH values 

 below 8.0 at any depth. For the Antarctic Ocean the 

 only data available are those obtained by Ruud (1930). 

 His observations extended only to a depth of 450 meters, 

 except in one case when they extended to 900 meters. 

 At 450 meters he usually found the pH to be about 7.8 

 and the one observation at 900 meters showed a pH of 

 7.77. It appears, then, that the pH in the Antarctic is 

 considerably lower than that in the Arctic and compara- 

 ble with that found in the Pacific. 



