PHYSICAL OCEANOGBAPHY OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



619 



The spacial relationship which the comparatively warm bottom water of the 

 gulf bears to the colder mid stratum, to the still colder Nova Scotian water, and to 

 the warm surface water, in summer, may best be illustrated by profiles crossing the 

 Eastern Channel (fig. 61), crossing the gulf from west to east (figs. 62 and 63), and 

 running out normal to the general trend of the eastern coast line of Maine (fig. 64). 



The first of these, in conjunction with the corresponding profile for March (fig. 

 19), is especially interesting for its demonstration that it coincided with a slack period 

 when a counter drift out of the gulf had filled the western side of the channel with 

 colder and less saline water, but followed an inward pulse that had overflowed 

 Browns Bank, raising the temperature of the whole column there to the high figure 

 (8.5° to 14.7°) stated on the profile (station 10228). This, however, had spread no 



Stations 



Meter 



FiQ. 61.— Temperature profile running from the eastern end of Georges Bank, across the Eastern Channel, Browns Bank, 

 and the Northern Channel, to the offing of Cape Sable, July 23 to 35, 1914 



farther north — witness the lower values in the Northern Channel (station 10229) and 

 the still colder water (3° to 10°) at the Cape Sable end of the profile (station 10230). 

 Our summer cruise of 1914 does not afford a satisfactory profile across the gulf 

 for July or August, lacking serial observations along the eastern slope of the basin, 

 where the axis of warm bottom water, drifting into the gulf, is to be expected. One 

 running eastward from the mouth of Massachusetts Bay toward Cape Sable for August 

 31 to September 2, 1915 (fig. 62), however, will represent the late summer state 

 equally well for the gulf as a whole in a moderately warm j'ear. The spacial rela- 

 tionship there shown between the warm surface water in the western side of the gulf 

 (>16°), the cold mid stratum centering at about 100 meters (close to 5.5°), the warmer 

 slope water (>6°) banked up against the eastern slope of the basin at depths greater 

 than 140 meters, and the homogeneous column (9° to 10°) on German Bank in the 



