44 



MARION AND GENERAL GREENE EXPEDITIONS 



The positions of the isohalines representing the saltest water, 

 on the other hand (fig. 20), indicated the Irminger- Atlantic water 

 as it progressed from Cape Farewell to Godthaab, branched west- 

 ward, and sank from the 150-meter level to about the 500-meter 

 depth. It is estimated from these data that the axis of the Irminger- 

 Atlantic water cooled approximately 11/2° C, and freshened about 

 0.20%o. This process of mixing and sinking is discussed on 

 page 175. The warmest and saltest water consistently found on the 

 deeper parts of the shelf in the Holsteinsborg section, and north- 

 ward, indicates Atlantic water much diluted from its passage into 

 Davis Strait. The vertical position of such water in the northern 

 sections when compared with the respective velocity profiles places 

 it near the under side of the West Greenland Current. The distribu- 



FiGURB 19. — Temperature and salinity at a depth of 600 meters July 30-September 



3. 1928. 



tion of temperature and salinity in the Disko Island section, section 

 G (figs. 20 and 21), like the other sections to the south, supports the 

 evidence of the velocity profiles, viz, an appreciable amount of West 

 Greenland Current entered Baffin Bay. 



The continuity and concentration of the Irminger-Atlantic water, 

 as the subsurface illustrations generally reveal, was less pronounced 

 off Cape Farewell at a point nearer its source than it was off 

 Ivigtut. The east Greenland Arctic water was similarly distributed. 

 The Godthaab'' s observations agree with the Manon^s in this respect 

 and thus indicate that the condition wag not purely coincidental. 

 The International Ice Patrol, similarly, has found lower tempera- 

 tures on the southwest slope of the Grand Banks than upstream at 

 the Tail of the Banks. The distribution of the Irminger-Atlantic 

 water along the southwest slope of Greenland in 1931, however 

 (figs. 32 and 33), was in accordance with the direction of the cur- 



