bands of relatively strong southward current 

 corresponded reasonably well with the location of 

 the southward flowing Antilles-Guiana Counter- 

 current that he hypothesized (Figure 4). Estimates 

 of transport in the major southward band in each 

 of the Coast Guard sections varied from 7.0 to 

 13.4 X 10* mVs, with an average of 9.3 x 10' mVs, 

 which is only about one-third of the southward 

 transport Kort (1972) reported for the Antilles- 

 Guiana Countercurrent. However, Kort's value, 

 computed for the transect near the coast of South 

 America at about lat. 8°N, was based on data 

 throughout the entire water column, not just the 

 upper 1,000 m. 



Kort's discussion includes some speculation 

 concerning the source of his hypothesized An- 

 tilles-Guiana Countercurrent as follows: "One may 

 suppose that a branch of the Florida or North 

 Tradewind Currents is a source of the Antilles- 

 Guiana Countercurrent. On the other hand, the 

 studies made by Swallow and Worthington (1961) 

 in the Gulf Stream in 1961 enable one to consider 

 that the Antilles-Guiana Countercurrent can be 

 traced far to the north flowing as a southward 

 countercurrent on the oceanward side of the Gulf 

 Stream." His portrayal of the general current 

 pattern (Figure 4), however, shows recurving of 

 the Florida Current, "North Tradewind Current," 



30' 



Figure 4.-Location of hypothesized Antilles-Guiana Counter- 

 current (open arrows) according to Kort (1972). Solid lines cross- 

 ing the arrow field indicate locations of oceanographic transects. 

 The northernmost, broad line represents the portion of the U.S. 

 Coast Guard Standard Section used in this study; the others are 

 sections cited by Kort. 



and possibly the Antilles Current, as sources of the 

 countercurrent. 



If the bands of southward flowing water found 

 in the Coast Guard transects are manifestations of 

 the Antilles-Guiana Countercurrent and if, as 

 Kort suggested, the source of the hypothesized 

 Antilles-Guiana Countercurrent is (1) the recurv- 

 ing of the Florida Current, (2) the recurving of the 

 North Tradewind Current, or (3) a countercurrent 

 seaward of the Gulf Stream, then the properties of 

 the water masses in the Antilles Current (north- 

 ward band) and Antilles-Guiana Countercurrent 

 (southward band) should be different. A plot of 

 observed temperature and salinity values (Figure 

 5) from the bands of northward and southward 

 flowing water detected in the Coast Guard tran- 

 sects shows that the bands have identical 

 temperature-salinity (T-S) characteristics, imply- 

 ing that none of the three sources suggested is 

 valid. Further, the comparison of the T-S 

 characteristics of the southward band with those 

 of the Florida Current (Figure 5) shows them to be 

 significantly different, substantiating the con- 

 tention that the recurving of the Florida Current 

 is not a source for southward flowing water. 



The identical T-S properties of the water in the 

 southward and northward flowing bands leads to 

 the conclusion that one flow is formed by a 

 recurving of the other. Such recurving would lead 

 to the formation of either a countercurrent, such 

 as the hypothetical Antilles-Guiana Counter- 

 current, or an eddy. On the basis of the Coast 

 Guard transect data it is impossible to determine 

 which feature was present, but the direct 

 measurement of large scale eddies farther south in 

 the Antilles Current performed by satellite 

 tracking of drogue buoys (Hansen^) suggests that 

 eddies are more likely. The nearly constant posi- 

 tion of the bands of northward and southward 

 flow (eddies) in the transects would suggest that 

 they are formed as a consequence of interaction of 

 the Antilles Current with the Bahama Islands and 

 surrounding banks. 



The significance of these findings in relation to 

 the distribution of ichthyoplankton in the area of 

 the northern Antilles Current is difficult to state 

 positively. However, it is clear that eggs and lar- 

 vae in the upper 200 m in this area cannot be 



^Hansen, D. V. Mesoscale motions in the Sargasso Sea: A 

 result from the EOLE Complementary Program. Presented to 

 the 54th meeting of the American Geophysical Union, April 18, 

 1973. 



630 



