288 ■ DISCOVERY REPORTS 



between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. It turns east again in about 53° S and 

 passes north of South Georgia across the South Atlantic. 



North of the Antarctic convergence sub-Antarctic water of the West Wind Drift 

 passes through the Drake Passage from the Pacific Ocean around the east coast of the 

 Falkland Islands into the Atlantic Ocean. South of the convergence the water flowing 

 eastwards through the Drake Passage originates in the Bellingshausen Sea and passes 

 into the South Atlantic through the western Scotia Sea and around the western end of 

 the island of South Georgia. North of the island it resumes its more eastward course 

 between 50 and 55° S. This is really part of the West Wind Drift, but in this report it 

 will be known as the Bellingshausen Sea current to distinguish it from the West Wind 

 Drift water north of the convergence. 



In the Drake Passage and Scotia Sea the warm deep water flowing southwards pro- 

 bably originates in the Pacific Ocean, and that in the Atlantic Ocean north and east of 

 South Georgia originates in the Atlantic (Deacon, 1933, p. 237). 



In the Weddell Sea, on the eastern side of the Graham Land peninsula, there is a 

 cyclonic current system. South of 66° S. and east of 15° E water flows westwards into 

 the Weddell Sea. It circulates in a clockwise direction along the east coast of Graham 

 Land and flows out in a north-easterly direction towards the South Sandwich Islands 

 across the eastern Scotia Sea. This Weddell Sea current is colder and more saline than 

 the Bellingshausen Sea current and carries pack-ice and numerous icebergs. Where it 

 meets with the warmer, less saline Bellingshausen Sea current in the Scotia Sea and in 

 the South Atlantic east of South Georgia it both mixes with it and sinks below it, but its 

 influence is perceptible in the South Atlantic as far east as longitude 30° E. 



A tongue of water of Weddell Sea origin runs north-westwards in the Scotia Sea be- 

 tween the South Orkney Islands and South Georgia, and another passes in a north- 

 westerly direction along the east coast of South Georgia. These are visible in the shape of 

 the isotherms calculated from the average temperature of the surface 100 m. at each 

 station^ (Figs- 5, 6). The bend of the o and i-o° isotherms westwards in the Scotia Sea 

 in the season 1931-2 (Fig. 5) and again in the season 1932-3 (Fig. 6) shows where the 

 tongue of Weddell Sea water projects into the Bellingshausen Sea current. Similar 

 westward bends in the o and i -0° isotherms, but particularly in the latter, are discernible 

 east of South Georgia, where there is another westerly projection of Weddell Sea water 

 into the Bellingshausen Sea current. A small eddy of Weddell Sea water passes westwards 

 around Joinville Island and flows into the southern part of the Bransfield Strait 

 (Fig. 6). 



In the Antarctic surface water of the Falkland Sector there are, therefore, two main 

 masses of water — the Bellingshausen Sea current, passing from the Bellingshausen Sea 

 into the South Atlantic through the Drake Passage and around the western end of the 

 island of South Georgia, and the Weddell Sea current, passing north-eastwards from 

 the Weddell Sea across the Scotia Sea towards the South Sandwich Islands. In the 



1 It should be noted that temperature, throughout this report, is expressed as the average of the readings 

 between o and 100 m. The isotherms also are calculated on this basis. 



