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Af hvad vi hidtil vide om det Hav, som omgiver
Norges Kyster, kunne vi erkjende, at det er dette Hav,
hvem vort Land skylder sin Existents som beboet og som
civiliseret Land. Gaar man til de samme Breddegrader
i Asien eller Amerika, træffer man kun Is-Ørkener, der
sparsomt beboes af nomadiske Folkestammer. Det milde
Klima, som i Norge gjør Landbruget, vor vigtigste
Næringsvej, mulig, skyldes det varme Hav, som beskyller vore
Kyster. Dette Havs Varme er ikke indskrænket til
Overfladen: i saa Fald vilde dets Varmekraft snart være
forbrugt under den lange Vinter; men, som anført, findes paa
Kystens Banker og Fjordenes Dyb varmt Vand, der
gjennem den lange Vinter, naar den koldere Luft stadig trækker
Varme fra det varmere Vand, er det Reservoir eller den Ovn,
som stadig forsyner Luften med Varme, og hvis
Varmemængde er saa stor, at den holder ud den strengeste Vinter
uden at tabe noget merkeligt af sin Varmeevne. Udenfor
Bankerne have vi i Dybet Ishavets iskolde Vande, der
fylde Færø- Shetlands-Rendens nederste Halvdel. Mod
disses Indtrængen til Landet danne Bankerne den
beskyttende Vold, de holde de iskolde Vande langt borte fra
Kysten og hindre dem fra at trænge ind i vore Fjordes
Dyb. Uden disse Banker skulde vi visselig i Norge have
Grønlands Klima. Bankernes Udstrækning mod Vest eller
Nordvest er saaledes en capital Sag for hele vor Tilværelse
— men hidtil er den os ganske ubekjendt. De varme
Vande, der flyde nordover fra Atlanterhavet, have en stadig
Tendents til at gaa til højre, altsaa til at kaste sig ind paa
Europas Vestkyst. Her mode de vore Banker, over hvilke
de flyde. Denne Omstændighed er af den største
Betydning. Thi Exempler fra andre Steder, f. Ex. fra
Færø-Shetland-Renden, vise, at hvor de varme Vande flyde over
et Underlag af iskoldt Vand, foregaar der fra dette en
sterk Afkjøling, der endog naar til Overfladen, og saaledes
bidrager til at gjøre Klimatet koldere. Men hvor det
varme Vand flyder over en Landbund, der tjener denne
til at bevare dets Varme i lange Strækninger. Det skyldes
derfor vore Bankers Udstrækning, at Atlanterhavets varme
Vande uden nogen sterk Afkjøling kunne omslynge vore
Kyster helt op til Grændsen mod Rusland og videre. Den
Udholdenhed, som det varme Vand har til at modstaa
Vinterens Strenghed, beror foruden paa Landbundens, det
er Bankernes, Udstrækning ogsaa paa deres Dybde — men
derom have vi ikke Kundskab uden for den smale Rands
Vedkommende, som de senere Aars Dyblodninger langs Kysten
har skaffet os Kundskab om.
their operation. — and finally, concerning the phenomena
of terrestrial magnetism, which, bearing as they do alike
on science generally and on practical navigation, are of
peculiar significance.
From the facts as yet determined respecting the sea
that laves our shores, we may safely assume, that to its
waters is Norway indebted for her existence as a habitable
and civilised country. In Asia and America, the land
within the same parallels of latitude constitutes a vast icy
waste, thinly peopled by nomade tribes. The mild climate
of Norway, indispensable for the prosecution of agriculture,
whereby the great bulk of the population subsists, depends
mainly upon the high temperature of the sea surrounding
our coast. The heat given off by the water is not
derived exclusively from the surface; were such the case, its
source would soon be exhausted during the long northern
winter; but, as previously stated, water of a high
temperature is found on the banks and in the depths of the fjords,
which, throughout the long winter, when the cold air is
incessantly drawing off heat from the sea, constitutes, so
to speak, a reservoir whence the atmosphere is supplied
with heat; and the amount in store is much too great
to admit of being sensibly reduced by the longest and most
rigorous of winters. Without the banks, we have the cold
water from the Arctic Ocean, filling the lower half of the
channel between the Færoe and the Shetland Islands. Now,
it is these banks that form a protective barrier, effectually
preventing the cold water from forcing a passage to the
coast, and from mingling its waters with those in the depths
of our fjords. Deprived of these banks, Norway would
assuredly have the climate of Greenland. Hence their
extent in a westerly or north-westerly direction is a
question of vital importance to the people of Norway,
yet concerning which we have at present everything to learn.
On its northward course, there is a marked tendency in the
warm Atlantic water to keep to the right and bank up
against the western coast of Europe. Here it reaches our
banks, over which it passes. But this is a most important
fact; for whenever a warm current flows over a substratum of
cold water, as is the case in the channel extending between
the Shetlands and the Færoe Islands, it parts with a
considerable portion of its heat, being cooled up to the surface, and
thus contributes towards the severity of the climate; but
where the warm water flows directly over the bottom, it
will retain its heat for a very considerable distance. Hence
it is the magnitude and extent of our banks that enables
the warm water of the Atlantic, without being deprived of
any great amount of heat, to compass our shores as far
north as, nay farther than, the Russian frontier. The
tenacity evinced by this water in retaining its high
temperature, how intense and protracted soever may be the
cold, is due, not only to its flowing for a long distance in
immediate contact with the bottom, or to the extent of the
banks, but likewise to the depth in those localities. As
regards these conditions, however, all that we know has
reference solely to the narrow belt along the coast in which
of late years soundings have been taken.
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