BIGELOW: COAST WATER EXPLORATION OF 1913. 



171 



of Cashes Bank, this was the result of solar warming, not of Gulf 

 Stream water, as proved by the low salinity (p. 200) . The northern, 

 western, and eastern limits of this warm region can be defined with 

 some accuracy from the hourly temperatures ; but how far it extended 

 to the south is doubtful. It is not likely, however, that it was directly 

 continuous with the warm surface water south of Georges Bank, for 

 the surface temperature on the latter is lowered by the violent tidal 

 currents (p. 155). 



At the eastern side of the Gulf a sudden transition from the high 

 temperature of the basin to cold surface water on German Bank was 

 noted, the temperature dropping from 60° to 48°, the coldest surface 

 reading of the cruise. Off the Nova Scotia coast the surface tempera- 

 ture was 52°-53°, rising to 54°-56° abreast of the mouth of the Bay 

 of Fundv. Off Mt. Desert Rock Station 10100 showed that the zone 



f^ n 40° 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50° 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 jgjg^ '^ ^ ^ 



Fig. 16. — Temperature sections off Cape Cod in JUly (Station 10057) and in 

 August (Stations 10085, 10086) and In Massactiusetts Bay in August 

 (Station 10106). 



of 54°-56° water was of considerable breadth. Near the northeast 

 coast of Maine the surface temperature was 50°-52° ; rising to 54°-56° 

 off Mt. Desert Island. 



Temperature sections. The temperature curves off Cape Cod 

 (Station 10057, Fig. 16; Station 10058, Fig. 3) and off Cape Ann 

 (Station 10087, Fig. 17); near Piatt's Bank (Station 10089, Fig. 18) 

 and near Cashes Ledge (Station 10090, Fig. 18) show a very rapid 

 cooling from the surface down to about thirty fathoms, followed by a 

 layer, reaching down to the bottom, in which the temperature was 

 almost uniform. In 1912, the temperature of the uniform bottom 

 water was 40.3° at all the stations off Cape Ann and Massachusetts 

 Bay; in 1913 it was 43.9° near Cashes Ledge, 41.3° near Piatt's Bank; 

 40.3° in the southern part of the trough between Jeffrey's Ledge and 



