24 0. Norclgaard. [No, 2 



Sept. 1899. Red curve (tab. XIV). 



■The observations of Capt. Johannesen in Sept. 1899 confirm 

 the great superficial extent of the Gulf Stream water in that sum- 

 mer. But the reduction of temperature, which I have mentioned 

 above, is also shown by the observations in Sept. 1899. If the 

 average is tåken (tab. XIV) we get 6°,15, but the average of the 

 observations in Sept. 1898 is 7°,22. The temperature difference is 

 about 1° C, nothwithstanding that the course line of 1899 is lying 

 for the most part in the Gulf Stream area, while the course line 

 of 1898 only cuts a branch of the said area some few miles W., 

 S. W. and S. of B. Eiland. 



Sept, 1900. Blue curve (tab. XVI). 



The situation of Sept., 1900, is quite different from what it 

 was in Sept,, 1898. The blue curve only goes through Arctic and 

 Scandinavian coastal water. 



It seems to be an unassailable fact that the energy of the 

 Gulf Stream in the North Ocean has been very variable in the last 

 four years of. the century. 



It is also probable that the favourable ice conditions in 1897 and 

 1898 are connected with the high value of the energy of warmth, 

 which distinguished the said years. In 1899 and 1900 the ice 

 conditions were less favourable. Capt. Andresen writes, e. g., 

 of the summer 1900; „ North of Spitsbergen the catching field 

 was barrecl by ice till the end of August, when it sparingly 

 opened." We have also seen that the observations both in May and 

 September of the said years represent a lesser energy of warmth 

 than in the two preceding years. Accordins- to the material at my 

 disposal, 1898 represents a maximum of energy, and 1899 a mini- 

 mum. Of the ice conditions in the summer 1898 Capt, H. C. 

 Johannesen has given a good description in a letter to me. I 

 quote the following: 



„We reached the Western ice on May 30th at 72° N. lat, 

 16° 40' W. long. As there were no seals in that part of the 

 catching field we made for S. Cape, which we passed on July 6th, 

 in the afternoon. On July 24th, we came up to the north end of 

 Novaja Semlja and passed C. Mauritius on the 25th, but as we 

 could not pass by C. Bismarck, we returned to West of Ice Cape. 



