PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OF THE GULE OF MAINE 



795 



First, in the basin to the north of the banlc is the Gulf of Maine complex, rang- 

 ing in salinity hereabouts from about 32 per mille at the surface to about 33.5 per 

 mills at a depth of 200 meters and close to 34 per mUle in the still deeper trough of 

 the basin. The northern part of the bank is washed by the typical "banks" water, 

 with a mean salinity of 32.5 to 33 per miUe, which in the shoaler parts is kept nearly 



Stations 



BCIjl 



J4.87 



Fig. 157.— Salinity profile running from the southeastern part of the gulf (station 10225), southward across the eastern 

 end of Georges Bank (stations 10221 to 10224) to the continental slope (station 10220), July, 1914 



uniform, vertically, by tidal stirring. Over the seaward slope the zone of transi- 

 tion to the much more saline water is condensed into so narrow a zone that the 

 successive isohalines become nearly perpendicular on the distorted scale adopted for 

 the profiles, their precise degree of obliquity depending, of course, on the proximity 

 of the oceanic water to the south. Finally, at the offshore end true oceanic or 



