Hydrographical Observations from the Danmark Expedition. 411 



As a rule the drift-ice off the coast lay fast and immovable, but 

 places where the current was strong with openings in the ice throughout 

 the winter were found — in addition to at Shannon Isl. — south of 

 Orleans Island, off Mallemukfjæld at ca. 80° N. L. and probably on 

 the whole stretch from Mallemukfjæld to N. E. Runding. 



At the places last-mentioned I did not make any observations 

 myself, but I think that the formation of openings was here influenced 

 by strong, irregular currents (eddies and tidal currents) in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the land, as the water here is very probably in the lea of 

 the main current, which is imagined to move in the direction from 

 с N. E. Runding towards Shannon Island. This may perhaps seem a 



Z remarkable conclusion, since the water-masses owing to the deflective 



^ power of the earth's rotation have a tendency to move westwards, 



§ but we know, on the one hand, that the currents are irregular in the 



■^ waters at the latitude where we entered (ca. 76° N. L.) and, on the 



S other hand, similar conditions are known off the Norwegian coast, 



^ where the main current runs northwards at a distance from land of 



30 — 60 miles, whilst in under land the currents are irregular and eddies 

 are formed here and there (see Norway Pilot p. 16). 



2. Indirect information regarding the current conditions in 

 the Norwegian and Greenland Seas was obtained by throwing bottles 

 overboard from the "Danmark", both on the outward and homeward 

 voyage. Altogether 59 bottles were thrown out and of these 22 have 

 been recovered (see Tabel 10 and P. XI). 



The drift-bottles were thrown overboard daily to the north of 

 62° N. L. both going and returning. 



2 So о 



Sî^lîlm Drift-bottles from the Danmark Expedition 1906—08. (Table 10). 



'ccl-^>^o Remarks: The bottles 101, 102, 103, 104, 106 and 108 were thrown 



out in the waters south-east and east of Iceland in the East-Icelandic 

 Polar Current and were carried by this to Iceland or further north 

 towards the Færoes and Shetland Isles and northwards along the 

 Norwegian coast. 



Bottle 106, Avhich was recovered in Thistil Fjord, has certainly 

 drifted round the whole of Iceland, following the same route as the 

 bottles 103, 104 and 108, which were recovered respectively on the 

 S. E., S. and N. W. coast of Iceland, and must therefore have drifted 

 with an average rapidity of at least 10 miles per day. 



The bottles 115 and 127 were thrown overboard with an interval 

 of two days in ice-free water in the central part of the Norwegian 

 Sea, and as No. 127 was recovered on the S. E. coast of Iceland, we 

 may conclude, that No. 115 has drifted the same way, but has been 

 carried by the East Icelandic Current past Iceland and further north 

 m M ?: round the Færoes and the Shetlands towards the Norwegian coast. 



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