rents. It thus
becomes inevitable, according to the law of equilibrium, that these
masses of water should seek such an outlet as we find in the Greenland
polar current.

"Let us now inquire whether further reasons can be found to show why
this current flows exactly in the given direction.

"If we examine the ocean soundings, we at once find a conclusive reason
why the main outlet must lie between Spitzbergen and Greenland. The
sea here, so far as we know it, is at all points very deep; there is,
indeed, a channel of as much as 2500 fathoms depth; while south of
Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land it is remarkably shallow--not more
than 160 fathoms. As has been stated, a current passes northward
through Bering Strait and Smith Sound, and the sounds between the
islands north of America, though here, indeed, there is a southward
current, are far too small and narrow to form adequate outlets for
the mass of water of which we are speaking. There is, therefore,
no other assumption left than that this mass of water must find its
outlet by the route actually followed by the polar current. The channel
discovered by the Jeannette expedition between Wrangel Land and the
New Siberian Islands may here be mentioned as a notable fact. It
extended in a northerly direction, and was at some points more than
80 fathoms deep, while at the sides the soundings ran only to 40 or
50 fathoms. It is by no means impossible that this channel may be a
continuation of the channel between Spitzbergen and Greenland, [6]
in which case it would certainly influence, if not actually determine,
the direction of the main current.

"If we examine the conditions of wind and atmospheric pressure over
the Polar Sea, as far as they are known, it would appear that they
must tend to produce a current across the Pole in the direction
indicated. From the Atlantic to the south of Spitzbergen and Franz
Josef Land a belt of low atmospheric pressure (minimum belt) extends
into the Siberian Arctic Sea. In accordance with well-known laws, the
wind must have a preponderating direction from west to east on the
south side of this belt, and this would promote an eastward-flowing
current along the north coast of Siberia, such as has been found
to exist there. [7] The winds on the north side of the minimum
belt must, however, blow mainly in a direction from east to west,
and will consequently produce a westerly current, passing across the
Pole towards the Greenland Sea, exactl