174 A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



Mediterranean water potirs out into the Atlantic and flows 

 along the Portuguese coast in a northerly direction. 



There can be no doubt from the salinity détermination that 

 in this section of the North Atlantic (see Fig. 34) the Mediter- 

 ranean water riins underneath the Irish branch of the Florida 

 Current. The extrême westerly branches of this Mediter- 

 ranean Current are found west of Ireland in 52° and 53° N. 

 Lat., where the Mediterranean salinities are found at depths 

 of 328 to 656 fathoms. At 57° N. Lat., off Rockall, ail trace of 



40 NL 



FiG. 34. — Mediterkanean Bottom Current due to Différences in 

 Salinity, on a Section from the Bay of Biscay to Iceland. 

 (Krijmmel.) 



this deep high-salinity water is lost. The highest salinity in 

 the surface layers is met with in depths of 100 to 164 fathoms, 

 and is due to the Irish branch of the Florida Current, which in 

 its surface layers becomes diluted with heavy rainfall the 

 farther north-east it gets. The salinity of the deeper layers of 

 the other parts of the North Atlantic— e.^., the Labrador 

 Current — are little known, certainly not enough to généralise 

 about. 



Enclosed and Partially Enclosed Seas of THE North 

 Atlantic- — The currents of the Mediterranean were first 



