4 8 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



the existence of the belt of pack-ice which the whaling fleet finds in this position at the 

 commencement of the season. 



The representation of the surface currents of the Bransfield Strait from the present 

 data is not complete, as the gaps between the lines of stations are too great. It must be 

 regarded as being purely tentative and will no doubt be modified in the light of further 



data. 



Between the cold surface layer and the bottom layer the relatively warmer and more 

 saline layer exists in the Bransfield Strait at a level closer to the surface than in the sea 

 outside. In November 1929 this warm intermediate layer was found in greatest amount 



Fig. 58. Relative topography: 600 m., November 1929 and December 1930. 



at the west end of the strait between Snow and Smith Islands (maximum temperature, 

 1-07° C. at 400 m.) and between Low and Brabant Islands (0-55, o-88 and 0-97° C. were 

 recorded at 200-300 m.). In the same month, on the line between King George Island 

 and Trinity Peninsula, this water extended from the station nearest the former island, 

 St. WS 476, where a temperature of 0-75° C. was found at 300 m., to St. WS 480 

 nearly two-thirds of the distance across the strait, where a maximum temperature of 

 o-io° C. was found at a depth of 100 m. In December 1930 this warm intermediate 

 layer was again in greatest amount at the south-west end of the strait, a temperature of 

 0-50° C. being recorded at 400 m. at St. 550 between Snow and Trinity Islands. On the 

 other hand, all the other stations in the December 1930 survey show poorly developed 



