92 



Capt. J. C. Wells on the 



[Dec. 19, 



tudes as 50° or 60°, does it acquire so high a temperature, even at the 

 surface ; and it is highly improbable that the general warmth of the ocean 

 along the west coasts of Worth Europe, on the shores of Norway, could 

 possibly be supplied by the limited body of warm water which leaves the 

 Grulf of Florida . If the whole of the Gulf -stream water were spread over 

 the warm-water area in the north, its depth, even allowing the most 

 liberal estimate for its volume, would not exceed 10 fathoms ; whereas 

 warm water of 42° F. occurs to the depth of 400 fathoms in this region, 

 and north of Spitzbergen it is found as high as 64° F. at 600 fathoms. 

 If it be said that this temperature is due to the northward drifting 

 of the Atlantic from warmer localities, we are met by two difficulties, 

 of which one is, that the soundings obtained by Carpenter and others gave 

 temperatures much below 64°, and the other is, that the waters flow south, 

 not north. Yolcanic action, or a warm mineral spring rising from the 

 ocean-bottom, may by some be imagined to be the cause of the tempera- 

 ture of 64° ; but there is no evidence of either of these agencies, and it is 

 quite reasonable to suppose any other feasible cause. Passing over the 

 discovery of 64° F. at this depth, we still have to account for the water 

 of 42° F. flowing southwards, as evidenced by the increase of its tempera- 

 ture as we proceeded northwards. 



It is clear that this question of temperature requires further investiga- 

 tion ; and it is also clear that whatever the result may be, it will materially 

 affect all the prevailing theories respecting oceanic currents. It is not 

 improbable that this warm water flows from the circumpolar region ; and 

 if so, it would indicate a circumpolar sea. 



Many facts are known which are consistent with this view. Every year 

 the edge of the pack-ice, and the ice-fields themselves, break up and drift 

 south, at a rate sometimes equal to thirteen miles a day, as found by Capt. 

 Parry. This does not occur when the northern ocean is wholly covered 

 with ice, in the winter season. The drifting of the ice (as also currents) 

 implies a sea free of ice somewhere in the north, occupying an area at 

 least as extensive as the drift-ice. As has been seen, some of the ice is 

 the result of more than one year's growth; and as the ice travels 

 southerly, say, from four to thirteen miles or more per diem, a similar 

 area of open sea must be simultaneously forming round the pole, the ice- 

 holes and clear spaces in the drift-ice being quite insufficient to make up 

 for the space left by the ice during the summer. The great abundance of 

 animal life in the waters of the highest latitudes reached indicates that the 

 water is not ice-cold ; and the migration of numerous species to the north 

 of 80° shows that the means of subsistence can be obtained. There is 

 reason to believe that whales occur far to the north of 80° ; and if so, there 

 must necessarily be sufficient open water to allow of their finding ready 

 access to air. 



In the Spitzbergen seas a blue, cloud-like appearance is well known as 

 a sign of open water ; and this has been seen on the distant north horizon 



