The standard Winkler method was used for the oxygen determinations and proved to be 

 quite satisfactory. 



In 1952 bottom samples by snapper-type sampler and Phleger corer were taken at stat- 

 ions where collections had not been previously made. In addition, samples were collect- 

 ed from the anchor at many harbors visited by the Blue Dolphin . 



Oceanographic work of the 1952 cruise began on June 23rd, the day following the 

 departure of the Blue Dolphin from Boothbay Harbor, Maine, with a routine program of 

 hourly bathythermograph observations off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. The taking of these 

 observations acquainted new crew members with operation of the winch and procedural 

 techniques of log keeping before the principle operational area was reached. A 210', 

 450', or 900 ' BT was used as predicated by existing depths. Forty BT observations were 

 made in the coastal waters of Nova Scotia while nqrthbound, and fifty observations made 

 on the homeward passage. 



On June 25th a fifteen posit section was made from Scatari Island to Cape Ray 

 across Cabot Straits, repeating sections made by the Blue Dolphin in 19^9. 1950, and 

 1951. On September 1st and 2nd a twelve posit section was made from Cape Ray to 

 Sydney, Nova Scotia. BT observations along the west coast of Newfoundland totalled 

 twenty-nine posits while northbound and thirty-seven posits while southbound. 



Within the Labrador area the 1952 oceanographic work may be divided into two main 

 sections. A continuation of the intensive study of the Hamilton Inlet-Lake Melville 

 estuary was made during early and late summer. Coastal and fjord work done in conduct- 

 ion with survey operations occupied the mid-summer period. 



A. Hamilton Inlet-Lake Melville Estuary 



Hamilton Inlet indents the coast of Labrador at latitude 5^° north. The bottom 

 is very irregular, varying from shoals of three to ten fathoms to general depths of twenty 

 to forty fathoms. Fifty miles westward from the outer islands the Inlet narrows until 

 at Rlgolet it is only one mile wide with a sill depth of fourteen to fifteen fathoms. 

 Beyond this point, called the Narrows, lies Lake Melville, a tidal lake which stretches 

 eighty miles to the westward with depths of over one hundred fathoms and which, towards 

 its western end, becomes twenty miles wide. Goose Bay is a fifteen mile extension west- 

 ward from Lake Melville. Its entrance is restricted by sand flats across which there is 

 a channel one-half mile wide and twenty-one feet deep. Terrington Basin is a "dead-end" 

 arm of Goose Bay ten to twelve fathoms deep, connected to the Bay by a channel fifty 

 yards wide and six fathoms deep. 



The Backway is an arm of Lake Melville extending twenty miles eastward from the 

 junction of the Narrows and the Lake. A brief survey indicated the following topo- 

 graphic features: eastward of the Narrows, irregular bottom, then a sill of twenty 

 to twenty-five fathoms, a basin of fifty to sixty fathoms, a sill of twenty fathoms, 

 and a hole at the eastern end of nearly one hundred fathoms. 



The major eastward drainage of the Ungava Peninsula flows into the western end of 

 Lake Melville by the Hamilton, North West, Kenamu and Goose Rivers, of which the Hamilton 

 is by far the greatest in volume and drains the largest area. 



The Blue Dolphin oceanographic program in the estuary is primarily a physical study 

 of water relationships and exchange between the estuarine basins and the ocean. There 

 are two main water sources, fresh water from Ungava Peninsula comprising largely the 

 surface layers and cold saline bottom water from the Labrador Current. This bottom 

 water within Lake Melville is fresher than Labrador Current water, being about 28°/oo, 

 but even in mid-summer it retains the temperature characteristics of Labrador Current 



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