[en] In a sodium layer heated from below and cooled from above, the integral Nusselt numbers are determined in a range of Rayleigh numbers 1.5x10³ < Ra < 2.5x10⁵. The experiments are performed in containers with dimensions of 500 mm in diameter and 15 mm and 45 mm in height. The relevant quantities are evaluated from measured temperature and heating power data. The experiments show that the heat transfer across the layer is determined mainly by heat conduction up to Rayleigh number Ra ≅ 10⁴. Beyond this value a significant increase of the convective heat transport is observed. At a Rayleigh number of 4x10⁴ the Nusselt number achieves the value Nu = 1.7. This result differs from values given by Nusselt-Rayleigh number correlations reported in the literature for liquids with higher Prandtl number. A regression analysis of the experimental data results empirical correlations for the Nusselt number. A time series analysis of the time dependent temperature signals shows that the measured temperature fluctuations exhibit predominantly stochastic features. However, in the lower range of Rayleigh numbers 1.5x10³ < Ra < 2x10⁴ certain regular frequencies can be identified from peaks in broadband power density spectra. These frequencies correspond to fluctuations of a period of 80 to 200 seconds. These regular frequencies are explained by instabilities of the cellular pattern in the convection layer reported in the literature. (orig./HP)