S 8 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



towards the south-east. Consequently in February denser water throughout the column 

 will appear closer to the surface on the right-hand side of this current, i.e. at St. WS 384. 

 At the next pair of stations (Sts. WS 385 and WS 479) the 0-25 m. layer is much more 

 saline in November than in February owing to a local accumulation of low salinity 

 water in the upper layers in February. The salinity throughout is greater in November 

 than in February at the pair of stations Sts. WS 387 and WS 480. As far as the surface 

 layer is concerned this is due to the greater salinity of Weddell Sea water in November 

 than in February. 



Below the first 20 or 30 m. in the surface layer, the salinity is greater in February than 

 in November at all stations except at the pair Sts. WS 387 and WS 480. With the 

 exception of the pair Sts. WS 382 and WS 476 this is explained by the greater penetra- 

 tion of Weddell Sea water in February across the strait towards King George Island, 

 which is shown by the dynamic charts. These charts, however, do not show the effect 

 of mixing and sinking of water masses and hence the higher salinity of February over 

 November in the position of St. WS 382 on the left-hand side of the strong north-east 

 current may be due to mixture of the Weddell Sea water in February with the Bellings- 

 hausen Sea water on the western side of the strait. 



The vertical sections show that in November the warm deep water, which lies 

 immediately below the surface layer, was present over a greater area of the strait than in 

 February; it has its maximum thickness at Sts. WS 476 and WS 477 on the northern 

 side of the strait. If we compare the salinities of this layer for February and November 

 we find that slightly more saline water is present at St. WS 476 in November than at 

 St. WS 382 in February, which is due to the greater development of this water in 

 November. At the next pair of stations (Sts. WS 384 and WS 478) the greater flow of 

 warm deep water below the surface layer in November is shown chiefly by the higher 

 temperatures of November over February in the layer approximately between 100 and 

 560 m., whereas only at 200 m. is the salinity higher in November. The dynamic charts 

 show that the stations in the middle of the north-eastern line are affected in February 

 by Weddell Sea water to a much greater extent than in November, when Sts. WS 478 

 and WS 479 are influenced by water from the south-west. The pair of stations closest to 

 Trinity Peninsula (Sts.WS 387 and WS 480) show that throughout the whole column 

 the salinity of November is higher than in February, no doubt due to the higher 

 salinity of Weddell Sea water in November than in February. 



At the stations in the north-western half of this line the bottom water is more saline 

 in February than in November, whereas in Sts. WS 387 and WS 480, which are on the 

 continental slope of Trinity Peninsula, the reverse is the case, i.e. November is higher 

 than February. The life history of this water mass is not sufficiently known to enable a 

 discussion of the variations in salinity of the bottom water to be made. 



In the absence of data from the same months in other years the differences in 

 temperature and salinity which have been noted above cannot be assigned solely to 

 seasonal differences, as the influence of the great change in current movements in the 

 strait from February to November may be due to variations other than seasonal. It is 



