22 EXPLORATIONS, WESTERN ATLANTIC, STEAMER BACHE, 1914. 
north of the Bahama Bank and along the continental shelf the 
water was much fresher, its salinity falling to about 35.5°/,. off 
the northeast slope of the bank, as far as station 10212, and in the 
Providence Channel, to 34.9°/,. in the exit of the Straits of 
Florida (station 10206), and to about 35.1°/,. off Chesapeake 
Bay. Thus, the low temperature and salinity which characterize the 
surface waters west of Bermuda (p. 6,7) were limited to a shallow 
zone, this being the warmest and saltest area at the 600-meter level. 
Similarly the very high surface temperature at the mouth of the 
Fic. 18.—Temperatures at 600 meters. 
Straits of Florida and northeast of the Bahamas in general was 
equally superficial, cold water rising nearer to the surface there than 
over the oceanic basin. 
At 1,000 meters conditions are puzzling. It is clear that the 
temperature at this level was highest (12°-13°) northwest of Ber- 
muda, and that most of the area studied was about 10°, with cooler 
water near the coast—i. e., that the general distribution of temper- 
ature was essentially similar to that of the 600-meter level. But the 
low temperatures (about 7°) at stations 10181, 10183, 10185, and 
10171, suggest a tongue of cold water, extending from southeast to 
