WATER MASSES AND CURRENTS OF THE OCEANS 



171 



both as milliliter of oxygen per liter of water and as percentage of satu- 

 ration at atmospheric pressure. The high oxygen values substantiate 

 the conclusion that convection currents were present and reached to 

 great depths. 



The branch of the North Atlantic Current which crosses the mid- 

 Atlantic Ridge in approximately lat. 45°N turns to the right and con- 

 tinues as an irregular flow toward the south between the Azores and Spain, 

 sending whirls into the Bay of Biscay. No distinct currents exist in this 

 region, as is evident from the discussions of the conditions in the eastern 

 North Atlantic by Helland-Hansen and Nansen, but a diffuse transport of 





Fig. 42. Transport of Central Water and Subarctic Water in the Atlantic Ocean. 

 The lines with arrows indicate the direction of the transport, and the inserted num- 

 bers indicate the transported volumes in miUions of cubic meters per second. Full- 

 drawn lines show warm currents, dashed lines show cold currents. Areas of positive 

 temperature anomaly are shaded. 



water toward the south takes place. Some of this water enters the 

 Mediterranean as a surface current and fiov.^s out again across the sill 

 in the Strait of Gibraltar as water of very high salinity which spreads at 

 intermediate depths and there influences conditions over the greater 

 part of the North and South Atlantic Oceans (p. 173). The larger 

 amount of the upper water masses continues toward the south and finall}^ 

 joins the North Equatorial Current. 



Transport. On the basis of the above discussion and from numerous 

 computations of transports, fig. 42 has been prepared giving a schematic 

 picture of the volume transport of the currents that carry North Atlantic 

 Central Water or Subarctic Water. No Hues of equal transport are 

 entered, but the different branches of the current system are indicated 

 and the approximate volume transports in millions of cubic meters per 

 second are stated. The presentation has been derived by computing 



