KONGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND. 20. N:0 5. 31 
From »Meddelelser om Grénland» I borrow the following statements, which show 
that in bays on the west coast of Greenland the temperature of the water at the sur- 
face is considerably lower at the mouth than in the interior of the bay, and at the 
same time that in the interior of deep bays the temperature of the water decreases 
strongly and rapidly towards the depth. 
The temperature of the water near the mouth of Nagsugtok Bay Lat. 67° 32' N, 
Long. 53°28’ W. July 11:th at 0 fathom was from 2°,0 to 2°,2; in the interior of the 
same bay Lat. N. 67°47’ Long. 52° 22’ W. in July: 
1, PELOSI ERIE (O10) Cie Ge REET Coat Or ae + 8°8s C. 
Dime De 9 ries te be eyepiece ye csases bes fae: + 2°,8 » 
» 10 Dy WHE ada w Sr NE) See ae eee ee Lip 
» 20 es yyguiel te Re bee ee i diords fit nnertis., +. + 0°,9 » 
» 30 DEM edietes Wied SM ole Surely | oe +1°,0 »*) 
According to the observations of the second German expedition, the temperature 
of the sea at the surface during the month of August on the east coast of Greenland 
along Shannon, Pendulum, and Sabine Isles (Lat. 74° 30'’—75° 30' N.) varies between 
+2°0 and —1° C. On examining the temperature of the water beneath the winter 
ice, it was found to be 
1SE9U October 57d). he 8) ules ee 0: 
» Dy EAD Oe Tn EPO NN | Nhs _.. —1°,9 » (at 27 fms) 
» November Psthi oe BRANT — 2°,2 » 
ESCO Jemimary? 2O-thee Pr eueel . — 2°1 » 
mea Pebriary aroun eee Fe Vee eu —2°5 » 
ae Men DNs he 2 fen oe oe SIRS tg: —1°9 » *) 
All these facts now set forth may be condensed, I think, as follows: in the Arctic 
Sea proper, i. e. the Greenland Sea, the eastern Murman Sea, the Siberian Sea, the 
American Arctic Sea, and Baffin Bay, the average temperature of the surface water in 
the middle of summer is about as high as or lower than in the Norwegian Polar Sea 
during winter (Dec.—Febr.), and at that depth where the richest marine vegetation is 
to be found, it does not rise in general above 0° C. at any time of the year. This 
difference of temperature between the Norwegian Polar Sea and the other above-mentioned 
parts of the Arctic Sea, is assuredly the most important cause, though it may not be 
the only one, of the essential difference shown by the Flora of the Norwegian Polar 
Sea as to its general character, in comparison with that of the rest of the Arctic Sea. 
The temperature of the air is probably also an element that ought to be noticed 
in accounting for the peculiarities of the arctic marine vegetation. 
Of course the temperature of the air cannot exercise any influence but on those 
portions of the vegetation which may come in contact with the air, that is to say, the 
vegetation of the litoral zone. Possibly the great poverty and scantiness of this vegetation 
depend in some part on too cold airs sweeping over the exposed litoral zone at certain times, 
1) Cp. Jensen, Gronl. Medd. 2. p. 207. 
*) Cp. Kotpewny, Zweite deutsche Polarf. 2, p. 618 —620. 
