PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OF THE GULP OF MAINE 

 Salinity on German Bank, August to September 



775 



station 



Date 



Depth 



Salinity 



Vertical 

 range 



10029 

 100S6 

 10244, 

 10311. 



Aug. 14,1912 

 Aug. 12,1913 

 Aug. 12,1014 

 Sept. 2,1915 



{ 



Meters 





 64 





 65 





 65 





 65 



Per mille 

 32.70 

 32.92 

 32.76 

 32.94 

 32.84 

 32.90 

 32.23 

 32.56 



Per miUe 

 \ 0.22 



^ .19 



.33 



In the deeper parts of the gulf the vertical distribution of salinity at depths 

 greater than 50 to 70 meters depends less on the tide (very active tidal stirring is 



Meter 



Fig. 140.— Salinity profile crossing the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, Gloucester to Cape Cod, just 

 west of Stellwageu Bank, August 22, 1922. The broken curve is the contour of the bank 



for the most part confined to the shoaler parts of the gulf) than on the configiu-ation 

 of the bottom, as affecting the free circulation of the water of high sahnity that 

 drifts into the basin via the trough of the Eastern Channel. One extreme is illus- 

 trated by the deep bowl or sink off Gloucester, where a depth of 181 meters is 

 inclosed by a rim rising to within about 75 meters of the surface at its deepest 

 point. Here, on each of our summer visits (figs. 104 and 139), we have found a very 

 rapid increase in salioity with depth down to the 40 to 50-meter level, succeeded by 

 a much more gradual increase from that depth down to the bottom. More con- 

 cretely, the maximum vertical range between 40 meters and bottom has been only 

 about 0.2 per mille here at any summer station, contrasting with a range of 0.6 to 1 

 per mille of salinity between the surface and the 40-meter level. Evidently the 

 submarine rim of this bowl is so effective a barrier that the water inclosed by it is 



