618 
MR. J. PRESTWICH ON SUBMARINE TEMPERATURES. 
Temperature. 
Lat. 
Long. 
Depth. 
Uncorrected. 
Corrected. 
79 4 N. 
5 38 E. 
4380 feet. 
37 Fahr. 
34*5 \ 
78 2 N. 
0 10 w. 
4566 feet. 
38 „ 
35-4 1 ? 
M. Martins’s chief experiments were, on the other hand, between the North Cape 
and Spitzbergen, from 71° to 76° N. lat. The deepest temperature sounding was in 
73° 36' N. and 20° 53' E., in which instance Walferdin’s thermometer registered at 2854 
feet 32 0, 2 F., and Six’s thermometer, corrected for pressure, gave 31 0, 6. This latter is 
the only recorded instance in the open sea where his reading was below zero of Centigrade. 
His most northern observations, viz. in 76° 13' N. and 12° 48' E., at 1296 feet, and 
another in the same place in 2103 feet, gave respectively 33 0, 4 and 32 0, 3 ; while one of 
Scoresby’s, in 79° N. and 5° 40' E., at 2400 feet gives, corrected, 34 0, 6 F., and another in 
76° 16' N., 9°E., at 1380 feet, not far from Martins’s position, gives, without allowance 
for pressure (for in this case Six’s thermometer does not appear to have been used), a 
temperature of 33 0- 3. 
Martins, however, states that on approaching the land in Magdalena Bay, instead 
of a submarine temperature above zero, he found that in depths of from 110 to 136 
metres the temperature of the water was always below zero ; that these bottom- 
waters there had, in fact, a temperature of — 1 0, 75 C. to — -1°‘91 C. (28 0, 6 F.), that of 
the surface being 0°T to 1°*2 Cent.* 
The results obtained in another section of the North Atlantic are very different 
and of much interest. The observations in Davis Strait and Baffin Bay by John Ross 
and Sabine indicate that, after passing the point where the diurnal and annual variation 
cease, there is a gradual decrease of the temperature with the depth to a point 
approaching in places to that of the maximum density of sea-water. Even taking the 
readings without correction f, they show : — 
From 1000 to 2000 feet, a temperature of 32 to 29-5 Fahr. 
„ 2000 to 3000 „ „ 30 to 29 
„ 3000 to 4000 „ „ 29 Fahr. 
„ 5000 to 6000 „ „ 28f „ 
Besides these, Parry noted, in 68 0< 29 N. lat. and 63°-43 W. long., at a depth of 
4854 feet, a temperature of 27°, and, as before mentioned, Ross and Sabine have 
recorded J, in 66° 50' N., 61° W., at a depth of 4080 feet, a temperature of 25f°§. 
In the Antarctic seas the observations of Cook, James Ross, and Wilkes show that the 
temperature from the surface down to 600 or 1000 feet varies from 28° to 32°. At greater 
depths there are, with few exceptions, only the experiments of Ross ; and these cannot, 
* Op. cit. p. 332. f Probably but very little is needed, anti, pp. 597 and 598. 
+ Marcet, Phil. Trans. 1819, pp. 169 & 205. § This may be rather doubtful (see, however, note, ante, p. 596), 
