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of the ice caused by a warm under-current etc. ., but solely
to the mechanical force of a violent tempest from the south
which had blown during 10 or 11 hours the day before.
The only point on the route of the Vega, where we could
expect to trace the influence of the Gulf-stream — if there
really should exist anything worthy of that name in the
Siberian ocean — undisturbed by the effluvia from the rivers,
is the sea north and east of Cape Tcheljuskin. The
observations on the 19, 20, 21, 22nd August (see section V on plate
24) are somewhat scanty, but will nevertheless furnish a
reply to the question, as far as regards the actual conditions of
the sea at that season of the year.
We are wont to attach the idea of a relatively warm and
salt surface-current of clear bluish coloured water with the
name of the Gulf-stream. None of these characteristics are
applicable to the sea, which borders on the northest point of
Asia. Its maximum saltness at the surface was 2.93 p. c. Its
temperature varied from + O’.s C to — O^.s C and the colour of
its water was green. Now it is a well-proved truth, that the
last out-parts of the warm Atlantic water to the north must
not always be sought for at the surface. In very high latitudes
the isotherms of the warm water often take the shape of
closed curves, showing that the warm surface stream has
been partially inundated by arctic water, which contains less
of salt and therefore, notwithstanding its lower temperature,
can be lighter than the Atlantic water between certain limits
of temperature. Thus, to cite one example of many, Professor
Mohn, the leader of the Norwegian North-Atlantic expedition,
discovered an isolated warm spot in the sea west of
Spitzbergen at about 79°—80° Lat. N. But the results of the
deep-soundings on the 21st and 22nd August [section V] convinces
us, that there exists no such phenomenon here.
From a few metres below the surface and unto the bottom
the temperature of the water was —1°.3 to —1°.4 C. But if
there is no trace to be found of a warm current of Atlantic
water north of Cape Tcheljuskin in summer, it may still be
possible, that such a current exists there in winter. 1
1 See the last page of the preceding paper. Pet ermann has tried to
find a connection between the direction of the ocean-currents in winter along
the north-eastern coast of Siberia and that of the Gulf-stream. »Der
Golfstrom» Mitth. 1870. »Bemerkenswerth ist eine Thatsache in den
Strömungs-Beobachtungen Wrangels in Nordost-Sibirien. Bekanntlich gehen dort die
Strömungen im Frühjahr und Sommer nach Westen, im Herbst und Winter
nach Osten, in der Richtung des Golf strömest.
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