VEGA-EXPEDITIONENS VETENSKAPLIGA ARBETEN. 



357 



The temperatures founJ at the deep-sounding, Aug. 2'"^, 8 

 o'clock a. m., [= — l°.o C at 50 ro. and — 0°.9 C at 115 m. 

 below the surfacej are very remarkable, especially if compared 

 with the results obtained 4 hours låter at similar depths 

 [= — 2'^.4 C at 50 m. and — 2°.o C at 122 m.]. It is indeed 

 very stränge, that the temperatiire at the bottom shonld change 

 so much within so short a distance, although the chemical 

 and physical properties of the water, represented by its saltness 

 and spec. gravity, remains almost identicall}^ the same. It 

 has occurred to me, that this anomaly may be explained as 

 an error of annotation and that the real numbers ought to 

 be — 2°.o C (instead of — l°.o C) and — 1°.9 C (instead of 

 — 0°.9 C) since this seems to be the normal temperature of 

 the Kära Sea so deep below the surface. We can see from 

 the folloAving that the spec. weights I.0279 — 1.0282 (saltness 

 3.45 &, 3.49 p. c.) has never been observed in the Siberian Sea 

 except in water of the temperature — 1°.4 C to — 2°.4 C. It 

 must be observed, however, that there is no ambiguousness 

 in the ciphers of the manuscript journal, which warrants my 

 supposition. 



The Siberian Sea. 



The whole distance from the Taimur peninsula to Long's 

 strait was before the voyage of the Vega almost a mare in- 

 cognitum to hydrography. In want of reliable facts, from which 

 we might judge of the real condition of this sea, we are wont 

 to attach a great deal of hypothetical assumption to the subject. 



Thus f. ex. the cj[uestion, whether the Gulf-stream pene- 



