516 ABSTRACTS OF MEMOIRS. 



while behind it were countless large bergs driving more slowly before the 

 wind. Observations made on the edge of the pack in about 53° N. 

 showed salinities varying between 33 and 34 down to 100 fathoms, with a 

 temperature minimum of about — 1 -3° between 25 and 50 fathoms. From 

 100 fathoms to the bottom in 200 fathoms there was relatively unmixed 

 Atlantic water with salinity and temperature over 34-0 and 0°. 



The next run was south-eastwards to the Flemish Cap. The edge of 

 the Labrador Current was passed in about 50|° N., 49|° W., the tempera- 

 ture rising suddenly from 0° to 3° and the salinity from 33-9 to 34-7. 

 Eastwards of the Flemish Cap the salinity and temperature now (May 

 24th) were much higher than nineteen days earlier, and far fewer bergs 

 were sighted. 



On May 28th a buoy fastened to a sinker and drag by 1000 fathoms of 

 piano wire was put over close to a berg on the outer edge of the Labrador 

 Current in about 45|° N., 47° W. The berg was found to be drifting 

 S. 52°E., 0-55 mile per hour, in a smooth sea with scarcely any wind. 



The Scotia then proceeded to St. John's, passing no more bergs until 

 close under the land. 



The second cruise, from June 10th to July 19th, consisted of a series 

 of diagonal courses as far as 44° W., between the parallels of Cape Race 

 and Hamilton Inlet. The finer weather now made scientific work much 

 easier, and a number of vertical series and current measurements were 

 made. The outer boundary of the Labrador Current was clearly defined, 

 at least northwards of the fiftieth parallel, by the isohaline of 34 and a 

 change of temperature of three or four degrees. In conformity with 

 the general rule for oceanic currents it followed the edge of the continental 

 slope closely. Seaward of it the surface temperature and salinity in- 

 creased eastwards very slowly from 4° to 7° or 8°, and from 34-0 to 34-8. 

 Vertically the water was nearly homogeneous ; the temperature fell 

 from 6° or 7° at the surface to 4° at 50 or 100 fathoms, and then very 

 slowly to 3° at 500 fathoms, while the salinity increased from 34-6 or 

 34-7 to 34-8 or 34-9. Current measurements with a buoy showed almost 

 no motion. 



The Labrador Current flowed over the continental shelf where the 

 depths were less than 300 fathoms ; it had a salinity of less than 33-5 and 

 a temperature below 0° except where the surface layer had been heated 

 by the sun, and the intermediate temperature minimum was well marked. 

 In places Atlantic water with positive temperature 3 and salinity over 34 

 underlay the polar water. Off the Labrador coast the pack had shrunk 

 considerably since the previous run, and now lay westwards of the fifty- 



