The oceanographic station data were compiled 

 by visual digitization of the analog chart output 

 from the STD at standard depths. Salinities below 

 500 m were corrected with the aid of a calibration 

 curve constructed using salinities from the Nansen 

 bottle samples. The final data are accurate to 

 within the advertised specifications. 



Two Braincon Model 381 and two Geodyne 

 Model 850 recording current meters were moored 

 south of Cape York using the mooring configura- 

 tion and method described previously (Muench, 

 et al., 1971). None of these meters yielded reliable 

 data. Two of them (one of each type) yielded no 

 data at all, while the other two suffered malfunc- 

 tions which destroyed the time base for the 

 recorded data. 



OCEANOGRAPHIC RESULTS 



The oceanographic results are presented as : 



a. Vertical sections showing temperature and 

 salinity distributions (figs. 3-32), constructed 

 directly from the STD vertical profiles ; 



b. Temperature-salinity curves (fig. 33) ; 



c. Isentropic diagrams (fig. 34) ; 



d. Dynamic topographies (fig. 35) ; and 



e. Station data listed in standard fonnat (Ap- 

 pendix A). 



The region from Melville Bay to the section 

 southwest of Cape Dudley Digges (figs. 3-18; 

 areas 1 and 3, fig. 33) contained a warm (>0°C), 

 saline (>34.4%o) layer at 300^00 m depth and a 

 colder (<0°C), less saline (<33.7%o) layer 50- 

 100 m deep. The warm layer cannot have origi- 

 nated in the Arctic Ocean, due to its low salinity 

 relative to that of Arctic Ocean Water of the same 

 temperature (Muench, 1971), and therefore is 

 Baffin Bay Atlantic Water which originated south 

 of Davis Strait. The cold, shallow layer is a 

 remnant of the preceding winter's convective layer 

 within Baffin Bay, and is part of the Baffin Bay 

 Arctic Water (Muench, 1971) . 



Water in southwestern Smith Soimd (stations 

 54-55, figs. 31-32; area 2, fig. 33) was character- 

 ized by uniformly low temperatures (<0°C) and 

 salinities (<34.3%o). These low temperatures and 

 salinities, coupled with a known net southward 

 transport through Smith Sound (Muench, 1971), 

 suggest that this water originated in the Arctic 

 Ocean. 



The water masses in the remaining areas (figs. 

 19-30; areas 4-5, fig. 33) had temperatures and 

 salinities intermediate between those of the Baffin 



Bay Atlantic and Arctic waters and the water of 

 Arctic Ocean origin from Smith Sound and there- 

 fore were mixtures of the three masses. Data from 

 other years also suggest that the northern Baffin 

 Bay region is a primary site of mixing between 

 these water masses (Muench, 1971) . 



A restricted area west of Cape York (stations 

 44 and 76, figs. 19-22) exhibited a breakdown in 

 vertical temperature structure. This area was also 

 characterized by relatively high surface salinities 

 (>33%o). These anomalous features of the tem- 

 perature and salinity distribution were not ob- 

 served during other years. 



The temperature distributlion on the o-t = 27.5 

 surface (fig. 34) corroborated the contention that 

 water from the relatively warm Baffin Bay Atlan- 

 tic Water layer was the cause of the temperature 

 maximum (>2°C) in Melville Bay. This warm 

 water extended westward past Cape York and then 

 northward as a tongue east of the Carey Islands. 

 The Baffin Bay Atlantic Water, which had been 

 modified by admixture of Arctic Ocean Water 

 from Smith Sound, was characterized by lower 

 temperatures (<1.5°C). This occurred on 21-25 

 September as a southeasterly-trending tongue 

 south of the Carey Islands which appeared, by 

 27 September-2 October, to be detaching to form 

 a "blob" (fig. 34). 



The baroclinic circulation may be estimated 

 from the slopes of the isohalines on vertical salinity 

 distributions, because they indicate the internal 

 mass distribution in cold water, but this circulation 

 is more clearly indicated by dynamic topographies 

 (fig. 35). Prominent features obseiwed in the cir- 

 culation were the westward to northward coastal 

 current from off Cape York to east of the Carey 

 Islands, and the southward flow west of the is- 

 lands. This general circulation pattern appears to 

 be common here (Muench, 1971). The complex 

 cyclonic circulation shown south of the Carey 

 Islands may not be real, because of the relative 

 inaccuracy of the temperature and salinity meas- 

 urements on which the dynamic computations 

 were based. The countercurrent between the two 

 westernmost stations west of the Carey Islands 

 was defined only by those two stations ; since such 

 a feature has never before been observed there, it 

 shoidd be regarded with skepticism. 



A high concentration of icebergs along the coast 

 northwest of Cape York during the observation 

 period suggested the presence there of a northwest- 

 ward coastal surface current. A southward extend- 



23 



