PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHIC, BIOLOGICAL, AND CHEMICAL DATA 

 SOUTH ATLANTIC COAST OF THE UNITED STATES 

 M/V THEODORE N. GILL CRUISE 2 



This is the second in a series of reports 

 presenting basic data from cruises of the Theo- 

 dore N. Gill in waters off the South Atlantic 

 Coast of the United States . 



Background of the investigations; objec- 

 tives; procedures on station; and chemical, 

 biological and oceanographic methods and pro- 

 cedures were presented in the report for 

 cruise 1 (Anderson, Gehringer, and Cohen, 

 1956) . The basic station plan is shown in fig- 

 ure 1 . 



NARRATIVE ACCOUNT OF CRUISE 2 



The Theodore N. Gill departed from 

 Brunswick, Georgia, on April 16, 1953, and 

 proceeded to special station 5. Hourly bathy- 

 thermograph observations were made while 

 enroute, except when passing through the Gulf 

 Stream and the Antilles Current when BT lower - 

 ings were made every half hour . Special 

 station 5 was reached on April 17 and after oc- 

 cupying special stations 6 to 8, the vessel 

 arrived at the standard station on April 19. 

 Thirty-two hours were spent on standard sta- 

 tion, during which time 10 Nansen-bottle casts 

 were accomplished at intervals of about 2 hours 

 --9 casts to 700 meters and 1 to 4,000 meters. 

 Bathythermograph observations, Secchi-disc 

 readings during daylight casts, routine meteor- 

 ological observations, and special plankton tows 

 for deep scattering layer studies were made in 

 addition . 



Observations on standard station were 

 terminated on April 20, and after calling in 

 Nassau, B.W.I., for medical care to a mem- 

 ber of the personnel, the vessel proceeded to 

 regular station 1, arriving on April 22. From 

 this date to April 28 the Gill occupied all reg- 

 ular stations of the southern leg ( 1 through 34) 

 and special station 9. The vessel returned to 

 Brunswick on April 28 for supplies . 



The Gill departed on May 4 from Bruns- 

 wick on the northern leg of the cruise, and 

 occupied all but 3 of regular stations 35 to 80, 

 and special stations 1 through 4 during the 

 period May 4-14. The vessel returned to 

 Brunswick on May 15. Cruise track is given 

 in figure 2 . 



Nansen casts were made on all regular 

 and special stations (fig. 3). Bottom -sediment 

 samples were obtained on a large number of 

 the stations with the modified orange-peel 

 dredge . A Phleger corer proved ineffective on 

 the types of bottom encountered. Water sam- 

 ples were collected on each station for analysis 

 of salinity, nitrate, carbohydrates, inorganic 

 phosphate, total phosphorus, and proteins. 

 Oxygen determinations were made aboard ves- 

 sel. Bathythermograph and associated 

 meteorological observations were taken on 

 station and at hourly or half -hourly intervals 

 between stations as conditions permitted. 

 Oblique plankton tows were taken on each sta- 

 tion with a half- meter silk net, and the continu- 

 ous plankton sampler was operated over most 

 of the cruise route . Feather jigs were trolled 

 between stations, and bottom fishing was con- 

 ducted on some shallow stations. Dip-netting 

 was conducted both at night under searchlights 

 and during the day (fig. 4) . 



Scientific personnel participating in the 

 cruise included: 



I . Southern Leg 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 

 Cooperators; 



W.W. Anderson 



F. T. Knapp 



G. F. Arata.Jr. 



V. L. Strock 



Chief Scientist 



Biologist (Georgia 

 Game & Fish Comm.) 



Biologist (Florida 

 State Board of Conser- 

 vation) 



Administrative 

 Assistant 



