GULF STEEAM— TEMPEEATUEE. 5 



secondary brunch, arrested by the submarine bed stretching from Bear Island to 

 Spitzbergen, is deflected northwards under the seventy-fifth degree of latitude, and 

 at least during the months of July, August, and September, when the sea is free 

 irom ice, it continues in this direction parallel with the west coast of Spitzbergen, 

 then trending round the Archipelago towards the north-east, and gradually 

 mei'ging in the Arctic Ocean. The mean temperature of this branch is 40° Fahr.* 

 West of Spitzbergen and of the submarine bank separating this group from 

 Scandinavia, the mean depth of the ocean is much greater than in the eastern 



Fig. 1. — Température of the Sea during the Summer of 1868 in Fahrenheit Degrees. 

 According- to A. Petcrmann. Scale 1 : 10,000,000. 



T I c 



'P 



100 Miles. 



waters towards Novaya Zemlya. 'Dr. Bessel's soundings showed no great depth 

 between this large island and Spitzbergen, the difference being due probably to 

 the struggle of the under -currents. In the west the relatively tepid waters have 

 the upper hand, diverting the icebergs to other shores, whereas farther east 

 the cold currents prevail, running at the rate of 9 miles par hour, so that a 

 * Von Freeden, in Petermaiin's MUlheilungen, vi. 1869. 



