OCEANIC SALINITIES OFF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC COAST 

 OF THE UNITED STATES, 

 Theodore N. Gill CRUISES 1-9, 1953-54 



by 



William W. Anderson, Joseph E. Moore, and Herbert R. Gordy 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory 



Brunsvfick, Georgia 



ABSTRACT 



Salinity data secured on nine crmses of the M/v Theodore N. Gill 

 of f the south Atlantic coast of the United States are further processed 

 and organized in a much more usable and readily available form. Sur- 

 face water salinities are presented graphically by season. 



INTRODUCTION 



A general siirvey of those waters 

 adjacent to our coast in the region 

 from Cape Hatter as on the north to 

 the Florida Straits on the south was 

 begun in 1953 by the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service in cooperation with 

 two other Feaeral agencies and two 

 State agencies. Nine cruises over a 

 basic station plan (fig. 1) were com- 

 pleted with the vessel Theodore N. Gill 

 from February 1953 to December 1954. 



All of the basic physical oceano- 

 graphic, biological, and chemical data, 

 together with procedures and methods, 

 have been published by individual 

 cruise; (Anderson, Gehringer, and 

 Cohen, 1956a eind 1956b; and Anderson 

 and Gehringer, 1957a, 1957b, 1958a, 

 1958b, 1959a, 1959b, and I960). Bottom 

 sediments were reported by Moore and 

 Gorsline, I960. 



This is the second in a series of 

 reports presenting a further processing 



Note. --William W. Anderson. Fishery Research Biolo- 

 gist, Joseph E. Moore. Analytical Chemist, and Herbert 

 R. Gordy, Physical Science Technician. 



of the physical oceanographic and chem- 

 ical data preparatory to a summa- 

 rization of conditions along the south 

 Atlantic coast of the United States, as 

 revealed by the nine Gill cruises (the 

 first report, Anderson, Moore, and 

 Gordy, 1961, covered water tempera- 

 tures). The data will also be organized 

 in a much more usable and readily 

 available form for fishery biologists 

 in their studies of the fishes, shrimps, 

 and other organisms of the region. 



PROCEDURES 



Sections 



There are l6 sections as established 

 from the pattern of east-west lines of 

 stations (fig. 1). These are naumed and 

 composed of stations as established in 

 the individual cruise reports ajid shown 

 in tables 2 to 14. 



Areas 



The region was divided into three 

 areas--southern, central, andnorthern. 

 Each area was split into three sub- 

 areas: inner shelf- -which extended 



