CONCLUSION 711 



could scarcely be of other than Siberian origin. We found sev- 

 eral indications of this kind during our ejcpedition, even when 

 we were as far north as 86°, furnishing valuable indications as to 

 the movement of the ice. 



The force which sets this ice in motion is certainly for the 

 most part supplied by the winds ; and as in the sea north of 

 Siberia the prevailing winds are southeasterly or easterly, 

 whereas north of Spitzbergen they are northeasterly, they must 

 carry the ice in the direction in which we found the drift. 

 From the numerous observations I made I established the ex- 

 istence of a slow current in the water under the ice, travel- 

 ling in the same direction. But it will be some time before 

 the results of these investigations can be calculated and 

 checked. 



The hydrographic observations made during the expedition 

 furnished some surprising data. Thus, for instance, it was 

 customary to look upon the polar basin .as being filled with 

 cold water, the temperature of which stood somewhere about 

 — i.5°C. Consequently our observations showing that under 

 the cold surface there was warmer water, sometimes at a tem- 

 perature as high as -f- 1° C, were surprising. Again, this water 

 was more briny than the water of the polar basin has been 

 assumed to be. This warmer and more strongly saline water 

 must clearly originate from the warmer current of the Atlantic 

 Ocean (the Gulf Stream), flowing in a north and northeasterly 

 direction off Novaya Zemlya and along the west coast of Spitz- 

 bergen, and then diving under the colder, but lighter and less 

 briny, water of the Polar Sea, and filling up the depths of the 

 polar basin. As I have stated in the course of my narrative, 

 this more briny water was, as a rule, warmest at a depth of from 

 200 to 250 fathoms, beyond which it would decrease in tem- 

 perature, though not uniformly, as the depth increased. Near 

 the bottom the temperature rose again, though only slightly. 

 These hydrographic observations appear to modify to a not 

 inconsiderable extent the theories hitherto entertained as to the 

 direction of the currents in the northern seas ; but it is a diffi- 

 cult matter to deal with, as there is a great mass of material, 



