Hydrographical Observations from the Danmark Expedition. 363 



76° N., 17° W., and assume, that by doing so the hydrographical 

 conditions at the station are nearly unchanged. 



St. LXXIII, taken at the mouth of Øresund, is moved in a 

 similar manner to cut Avith Sect. I. 



We may in this way draw the isopykns between the stations 

 IV, VI, LXXVIII, VII, ix and the removed stations LXXVII and 

 LXXIII 1. 



The typical course of the isopykns appears to be as follows: they 

 are greatly depressed over the Continental Shelf and then run nearly 

 horizontally in towards land. The great depression is due to the ten- 

 dency of the water-masses to move towards the west in the south- 

 going current, thus becoming dammed up towards land. When there- 

 fore the depression ceases at some distance from land, it is a sign, 

 that the south-going current does not occur near land (or at any rate 

 only to a small degree). 



The course of the isopykns shows, that there are two different 

 current-regions in the waters outside the Greenland coast at ca. 76° 

 N. L., from the eastern edge of the Continental Shelf and in towards 

 the land; one region with a south-going current over the Continental 

 Shelf and another with comparatively stationary water and irregular 

 currents in over the deeper channels near the coast between the Con- 

 tinental Shelf and the coastal banks. 



It is the last-mentioned region, which is called the region of the 

 coastal water. 



Here we find almost ice-free water both in 1906 and in 1908, 

 and in my opihion the reason is mainly this, that because the Polar 

 Current with its ice-masses does not reach quite into land only com- 

 paratively small portions of drift-ice are brought in by wind, current 

 or other causes, and are prevented from coming near land by an 

 east-going movement in the surface-water in the summer. 



In this coastal water the "Danmark" drifted towards the north 

 in 1906, whilst further from land in the Polar Current the drift had 

 been in a south-westerly direction (see Table 9). 



Thus whether we regard the current conditions, ice conditions 

 or the hydrographical conditions, we come to the same view, that 

 there is a special region to the west of the Polar Current — the region 

 of the coastal water (which at ca. 76° N. L. extends from the coast to 

 ca. 161/2° W.L.). 



(The situation of the 26.50 isopykn is different from that of the 

 others, being greatly inclined down towards the land; this is pro- 

 bably caused by the later mentioned mixing processes between more 

 and less dense water in the mouth of Øresund). 



^ It has to be remembered here that the stations LXXIII, LXXVII and 

 LXVI 1 1 were taken in 1908, the others in 1906, and the bend in the isopykns 

 which is found at St. LXXVIII is certainly due to this fact. 



