162 Salinity of the Ocean, its Variation in Oceanic Space and in Time 



In the Pacific the zonally oriented cores of maximum sahnity lie between 30° and 

 20° N. with somewhat more than 35-6%o and between 15° and 25° S. with about 

 35-6%o. Between the areas of the subtropical salinity maxima there is a belt of low 

 salinity for all three oceans located in correspondence with the region of the equatorial 

 counter currents. 



On the polar side of the subtropical maxima in salinity there is a rapid decrease in 

 salinity which is particularly pronounced in the Southern Hemisphere in all three 

 oceans as far as the southern oceanic Polar Front (45°-50° S.). On the polar side of 

 this the salinity remains everywhere a little less than 34%^ especially in the area of the 

 Antarctic pack ice and drift ice. In the North Atlantic, due to the effect of the Gulf 

 Stream and the Atlantic Current, there is a sharp difference between the eastern and 

 western sides. In the eastern part there is only a slow decrease in salinity towards the 

 north; in the western part shows a belt of low salinity (less than 32%o) associated with 

 the Greenland and the Labrador Current which borders with a strong salinity gradient 

 the warm, more saline Atlantic water. 



Table 73 shows the factors listed by Wust (1936), which increase or decrease the 

 salinity at the surface of the ocean. For a stationary distribution of salinity the effect 

 of all these factors at any point must balance. An analysis of the horizontal distribu- 

 tion of salinity in this way is not yet possible at the present time. However, if only the 

 mean meridional distribution in the space between 40° N. and 50° S. is considered 

 the above factors are considerably reduced so that a good correlation equation of the 

 form 



S =f(E - P, C, M) 



could be expected. At first attempts have been made to determine the dependence of 

 the salinity on the quantity (E — P) from the available dita. Recent calculations of 

 this type have been mad.' by WiJST (1930, 1936). Table 74 gives values of S, T and 

 CT< separately for the three oceans and for the total ocean. Values for E — P are given 

 later on in Table 87 (see Chap. VII, 3). Figu-e 68 shows the close relationship between 

 the distributions of S and {E — P). It has been found by accurate analysis that the 

 correlation equation 5" — f{E — P) for the entire ocean is linear: 



70°N.-10°N.: S = 34-47 + 0-0150 {E - P) ± 0-1 l%o, 



60° S.-10° N.: S = 34-92 + 0-0137 (E - P) ± 0-09%o. 



I 



