94 



WATER MASSES AND CURRENTS OF THE OCEANS 



has been computed on the assumption of no motion at the 700-decibar 

 surface. These computations are uncertain near the Equator, but the 

 resulting picture is remarkably consistent. In this case the counter- 

 current lies between 3°N and 10°N, as indicated by the letters stating the 

 direction in which the currents flow. 



The maximum velocity at the surface, as computed from the Carnegie 

 section (fig. 52), is a little over 50 cm/sec, or about 1 knot, in good 



STA. 159 158 



LAT^O: 



jo'l 



SALINITY. %o 



0° i _l^' 11 '0- 



HORIZONTAL VELOCITY. CM/SEC 



Fig. 52. Temperature, salinity, and computed velocity in a vertical section 

 between 10°S and 20°N in the Pacific Ocean, according to the Carnegie observations. 

 Arrows indicate direction of north-south flow. E indicates flow to the east, W shows 

 flow to the west. 



agreement with values reported from ships. According to the Carnegie 

 section the countercurrent transports approximately 25 million m^/sec 

 to the east, and the volume transport of the countercurrent of the 

 Pacific is therefore comparable to that of the Florida Current. The sur- 

 face observations seem to indicate that the transport is somewhat less 

 in the western part of the ocean and that water is drawn into the current 

 as it crosses the Pacific Ocean. 



Montgomery and Palm^n have shown that the countercurrent in the 

 Pacific Ocean, as well as that in the Atlantic Ocean, is maintained by the 

 piling up of the light surface water against the western boundary of 

 the ocean, leading at the Equator to a slope of the sea surface of 4.5 X 10~^. 



