DAVIS STRAIT AND LABRADOR SEA 



71 



Volume of flow 



[Millions of cubic meters per second] 



The table shows that the vohime of flow of the BaiRn Land Cur- 

 rent through section 4 much exceeded that through any of the other 

 sections. Keference to the station map (fig. 38) indicates that sec- 

 tion 4 crossed the deep water in the southern end of Baffin Bay 

 about 60 miles north of the shallowest part of Davis Strait Ridge. 

 It is possible that the Baffin Land Current is subject to considerable 

 fluctuation in volume, but the added fact that the three other cross 

 sections of the Baffin Land Current taken over the ridge itself re- 

 corded a volume of current that varied little from 2 million cubic 

 meters per second supports the conjecture that the Baffin Land 

 Current is notably constant in rate of transport. In view of the 

 foregoing it seems most probable that significant under portions 

 of the Baffin Land Current on meeting the rise of the bottom, at 

 the south end of the bay, are deflected to the left following around 

 the side of the basin. IMaking suitable allowances, therefore, for 

 the larger volume of the Baffin Land Current recorded farther north- 

 ward in the bay, the normal volume of the discharge across Davis 

 Strait Ridge into the Labrador Sea is placed at 2 million cubic 

 meters per second. 



The average rate of transport of the West Greenland Current 

 through Davis Strait according to the table is 1.13 million cubic 

 meters per second. Section 3, as can be seen from the station maj) 

 (fig. 38), did not extend more than halfway across Davis Strait 

 and therefore furnishes no information on the volume of the West 

 Greenland Current. If the total volume of northward flow is about 

 equally divided between the inshore surface layers and the deeper 

 slope band, it agrees well with previous computations made of the 

 West Greenland Current at points farther south. (See p. 65.) 



It is concluded from the foregoing that the average rate of ex- 

 change of the water between Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea is 

 in the ratio of about 2 to 1, and the West Greenland Current through 

 Davis Strait definitely fails, therefore, to maintain the renewal of 

 Baffin Bav water. 



HORIZONTAL DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY 



The distribution of temperature at 75 meters (fig. 41) reflects 

 the courses of the two main currents through Davis Strait — the 

 frigid Baffin Land Current, on the one hand, and the northward 

 drift of the Greenland shelf w^aters on the other. The area of 



