CLYDE SEA AREA. 21 



2nd and 3rd, south-west on the 4th and 5th, when Loch Fyne was examined during an 

 up-loch wind. On the 7th, Loch Strivan was visited during a stiff south-easterly breeze 

 blowing right up the loch. The rest of the trip took place in anticyclonic conditions, 

 clear skies and hard frost prevailing with low-lying mist over the water, which greatly 

 impeded the work, making it impossible to attempt observations in the Channel. Thin 

 ice was floating along the shore of the Dunoon Basin, from Hunter's Quay to Toward, at 

 the head of Loch Long, and in particular in Loch Goil, where the observations had in 

 consequence to be reduced in number. The surface water necessarily varied greatly in 

 temperature on account of the rapid and frequent changes of weather, but it was always 

 coldest, and below 5 fathoms the water was almost homothermic in all parts except Loch 

 Fyne and Loch Long. The mass of the water in the Area had a temperature not varying 

 half a degree from 44°. The distribution of warmth was unusual, since for the first time it 

 appeared that the water on the Great Plateau was, throughout, colder than that in the Arran 

 Basin. This apparent anomaly may be partly explained by the fact that no observations 

 were obtained in the Channel, but the distribution is confirmed by the observations near 

 the head of the various basins, where at all depths water somewhat warmer than that near 

 the Plateau was found. This seems to indicate that the cooling by radiation of the Sea 

 Area had slackened, and that the Channel water being now slightly colder than that inside, 

 was rapidly lowering the temperature of the seaward division by tidal interchange. Loch 

 Goil, where the maximum temperature of the Area (47°'3) now occurred at the bottom, 

 and Loch Fyne, where the maximum (46° '5) had not worked its way quite so far down, 

 may have helped to maintain the higher temperature at the head of the Dunoon and 

 Arran Basin by outflow. In Loch Strivan the very remarkable juxtaposition of two 

 homothermic masses of water at different temperature, already referred to in describing 

 the methods of observing (p. 5), was found. From the surface to 9 fathoms the tem- 

 perature was uniformly 42°. At 9 J fathoms it was 44°, and this temperature (rising about 

 one-tenth of a degree) was maintained to the bottom in 35 fathoms. 



Trip VIII. , March-April 1887. — The trip, occurring fifty days after that of 

 February, commenced on March 25th and ended on April 3rd, no observations having 

 been made on March 28th or April 1st and 2nd. March had been a colder month than 

 February as regards the air. It was, indeed, almost as much below the seasonal average 

 as February had been above it. There had been a good deal of snow. The weather of 

 the period during which observations were made was very stormy. A passing cyclone, 

 on the 24th and 25th, brought strong winds, shifting from south-west to north-west, 

 blowing right down Loch Goil and the Gareloch, when they were visited. The north-west 

 gale blew strongly on the 27th and 28th, transversely to Loch Fyne ; but on the 29th 

 and 30th, when that loch, the West Arran Basin, and Channel were worked over, it 

 gave place to anticyclonic weather, calm and hazy. This fine spell was short-lived : a 

 north-westerly gale commencing on the 31st kept the "Medusa" a prisoner in Lamlash 

 Bay until April 3rd, when the final observations in the East Arran Basin were made. 



This trip came nearest to the minimum for the season, but the water temperature 



