1869.] on the Scientific Exploration of the Deep Sea. 461 



Table II. 



Intermediate Bottom-temperatures, showing the intermixture of Warm 

 and Cold Currents on the Borders of the Warm and Cold Areas. 



Station 

 No. 



Depth. 



Surface 

 Tempe- 

 rature. 



Bottom 

 Tempe- 

 rature. 



Station 

 No. 



Depth. 



Surface 

 Tempe- 

 rature. 



Bottom 

 Tempe- 

 rature. 





fathoms. 



0 







fathoms. 



0 



0 



72 



76 



52 3 



48-8 



75 



250 



51'5 



41-9 



79 



76 



52-2 



48-9 



78 



290 



5 2-2 



41-6 



73 



84 



527 



48-8 



82 



312 



52-3 



4i'3 



7i 



103 



53"° 



48-6 



83 



362 



53"2 



37'5 



74 



203 



52'5 



477 j 











66 



267 



5**4 



457 | 



51 



440 



516 



42*0 



surface-current that comes up from the S.W. obviously extends over that 

 bank, so as to modify in greater or less degree, according to the depth, the 

 effect of the deep concurrent coming down from the N.E. The intermixture 

 of the two is well seen in Nos. 75, 78, 82, and 83, the depths of which 

 range from 250 to 362 fathoms ; but at the shallower depths, ranging 

 from 76 to 203 fathoms, at which Nos. 66, 71, 72, 73, 74, and 79 were 

 taken, the influence of the warm surface-current is obviously predominant. 

 On the other hand, the position of No. 51 marks it as just on the border 

 ground betw r een No. 50, which was taken at or near the northern margin 

 of the warm current, and Nos. 52, 53, which clearly lie within the southern 

 margin of the cold ; and we thus see how the southern and deeper portion 

 of the cold current may here lose itself by intermixture with the warm ; whilst 

 the northern portion seems to flow onwards unchanged over the shallower 

 bottom, until, having passed the Faroe Banks, it runs down the slope 

 forming the eastern margin of the great Atlantic basin, to the deeper waters 

 of which it helps to impart the coldness by which they will presently be 

 shown to be characterized. 



101. Although we have spoken of " currents," it is not to be inferred that 

 we have detected any actual opposing movements in the waters of the two 

 Areas respectively, or in the warm superficial stratum of the Cold area 

 as compared with its deep frigid layer. But it may be assumed as a 

 physical necessity that a great body of ice-cold water could not be always 

 spread over the bottom of a large area between Lat. 59|° and Lat. 62°, 

 often to a depth of 2000 feet, unless it had arrived thither from within the 

 Arctic circle ; and, conversely, it can scarcely be conceived that the upper 

 stratum of this very area should maintain a temperature equal to that of 

 the Warm area (a slight allowance being made for difference of Latitude), 

 without a continual flow of a warmer stream from some southerly quarter. 

 — A further indication of the derivation of the deep water of the Cold 

 Area from a northern source is afforded by the presence, among the 

 small stones and sand brought up from this bottom, of Volcanic detritus, 

 which seems to have been brought southwards either from the Faroe 

 Islands or from some more remote source, such as Jan Meyen. The 



vol. xvin. 2 N 



