6 EXPLOKATIONS, WESTERN ATLANTIC^ STEAMER BACHE, 1914. 



temperature of the detached thread of mercury at the moment of 

 reading. The water samples were collected with Ekman reversing 

 water bottles (Ekman, 1905b) and with the Bigelow stopcock water 

 bottle (Bigelow, 1914a). Unfortunately, the former proved unreUable 

 in the strong currents in which much of the work was carried on; 

 consequently a number of the water samples are untrustworthy, and 

 such have been omitted from the table of sahnity (p. 55). 



The limitation of the gear on the BacJie made it impracticable to 

 work deeper than 1,800 meters. Only occasionally were water 

 samples or temperatures taken on the sounding wire at greater 

 depths; but down to 1,800 meters the records are sufficiently full 

 to afford a satisfactory survey of both temperature and salinity. 



Throughout the cruise the weather was most unfavorable. There 

 was a constant succession of gales, occasionally of almost hurricane 

 strength, taxing vessel and personnel to the utmost. 



The sahnities were executed in the laboratories of the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries at Washington. 



THE ATLANTIC WATER. 



The Bache stations give a survey of the upper 1,800 fathoms be- 

 tween Chesapeake Bay and Bermuda ; from Bermuda to a point 200 

 miles to the southwest ; and between the latter and the northern end 

 of the Bahama Bank. (See chart.) Off Chesapeake Bay the surface 

 temperature (fig. 1) rose suddenly from about 12° over the 200-meter 

 contour to 21.5° 80 miles farther east. This very warm water was 

 evidently only a very narrow band, for as a rule the surface water, 

 as far as Bermuda, was 18.8°-19.5°. Close to Bermuda the surface 

 temperature was 18°-19°; but about 200 miles farther south it rose 

 to 21°, and on the line to the Bahamas it was constantly 20° or 

 warmer, except between longitude 67° 30' and 71°, where cooler 

 water was encountered. North of the Bahamas the surface water 

 warmed to 23°; and it was even warmer, 23.6°, at the mouth of the 

 Straits of Florida, off Jupiter Inlet. These observations show that 

 there were four fairly distinct temperature zones, as outlined on the 

 chart (fig. 1): First, the coast water off Chesapeake Bay, 15° or 

 colder, which probably extends, though with constantly rising tem- 

 perature, to Savannah; second, the general warm water of the An- 

 tilles drift, with temperatures warmer than 20°, which swings north- 

 eastward parallel to the coast, reaching latitude about 36° in Jan- 

 uary and February; third, the superheated water coming from the 

 Gulf of Mexico, via the Straits of Florida, which gradually merges 

 with the Atlantic water; and, fourth, a comparatively cool region 

 west of Bermuda, no doubt continuous with the colder water farther 

 north. All this, of course, agrees in its main lines with the earlier 



