VKGA- EXPKDITTOKEKS VETENSKAPLIGA ARBETEK. 359 



deep basin in the western part of tlie Kära Sea along the 

 coast of Novaya Zemlya ought to be entirely separated from 

 the deep sea east of Cape Tcheljushin, from which a deep channel 

 is supposed to extend between the aforesaid continents to the 

 vicinity of the north pole. It is true, that the depth of the 

 sea increases abruptly immediately east of Cape Teheljuskin, 

 but we can see from section V (plate 24) that a little more 

 to the east it decreases again to about 60 metres, the same 

 depth, which was found at the Taimur coast a few miles north- 

 west of Actinia Bay [see section IVJ. Moreover, the tempera- 

 ture and the saltness of the water at the bottom of the sea 

 east of Cape Teheljuskin [t = — 1°.4 C or — 1°.2 C, saltness 

 = 3.45 p. c] is almost identical with that of the deeper strata 

 of the western basin of the Kära Sea [t = — 1°.8 C, saltness 

 = 3.49 p. c.]. We could as well fancy the bottom of the shallow 

 sea north of the Obi and Yenisei to be formed by the' deposits 

 from these rivers as to be a submarine plateau connecting 

 the northern part of Asia with an unknown continent. 



But, if there is ver}' little in the Vega observations to 

 strengthen the h.ypothesis of Mr. Hovgaard, there is on the 

 other hand nothing, which is absolutely contradictory to it, 

 so we must be content to hope, that this question will be 

 settled soon in a satisfactor}' manner by the Dijmphna-expedition, 



The opinion, that the >polynia» of the Siberian Sea is a 

 branch of an open arctic ocean, unfrozen even in winter, has 

 received an irreparable shock by the experiences of the 

 Jeannette-expedition. Still there is full evidence from the 

 Vega observations of the fact, first observed by Wrangel, 

 that the ice of the Siberian Sea breaks up partly on several 

 occasions in the course of every winter. The 31^' December, 

 1878, Lieutenant Bove' made an excursion to a large clearing 

 in the ice, which had formed in the course of the previous 

 day. He found the teraperature of the water to be — 2° C, 

 which proves that the open water was not due to any melting 



^ »Tn altre sei o sette occasioni e sempreché spirarono tempeste dal 

 sud-est o dal sud-ovest, aprironsi bacini al nord della posizione della Yega.T 

 .... »Era un vastissimo bacino che si perdeva verso Test e verso il nord, 

 mentreché alFovest era liniitato da alto catene di hnmniocks^ .... >iMon- 

 tammo su di una coUina di gliiaccio per avere una piu chiara idea del bacino 

 d'acqua che avevamo in c(.)spetto; ma anche dalFallto di quelFosservatorio 

 non potemmo vedere i limiti di quella piccola Polyniä^y .... »Trovammo 

 la temperatura delVacqua a — 2° e diversi scandagli ci diedero 'un 'altezza 

 di fondo di 24 a 2-5 metri. 



Giacomo Bove: Spedizione Artica Svedese 1878 — 79. 



