The Currents 



Temperature at 200 meters 



1000 meters 



2000 meters 



Temperature in °C. 



"7 5-\V/^ \ / 



Salinity at 200 meters 









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The German Atlantic Expedition of 

 the Meteor (1925-27) was a survey 

 of the Atlantic Ocean from the 

 Antarctic ice edge to lat. 20° N. 

 The 14 transverse sections of the 

 Meteor (see diagram left) plus more 

 information collected later enabled 

 comprehensive horizontal charts and 

 vertical profiles to be constructed. 



The immediate subsurface w/ater (200 

 meters) in the two subtropical high 

 pressure regions indicates the 

 increased effect of the absorption 

 of solar radiation and its storage 

 in the upper layers of the oceans. 

 Here the water temperature may reach 

 20°c. or more. These areas also 

 have high salinity. The spread of 

 warm water over the North Atlantic, 

 bounded in the north by the meander- 

 ing "wall" of the Gulf Stream, is 

 also well marked at this depth. 

 Other details to notice are the warm 

 Agulhas Current rounding the south- 

 ern tip of Africa and the cooler 



2000 meters Salinity In parts perthousand By weigtit 



upwelling water in the Benguela 

 Current off the southwest coast 

 of Africa. 



The temperature chart at 200 

 meters shows the exceptional cooling 

 to below 0°c. in the Weddell Sea and 

 off the Labrador coast and Davis 

 Strait. The coldest water in the 

 southern Weddell Sea sinks to the 

 ocean bottom and spreads northward 

 as the Antarctic Bottom Water, as 

 can be seen on the vertical tempera- 

 ture profile. The surface layers 

 of the ocean around the Antarctic 

 continent, cold but less saline 

 because of melting ice, stretch 

 northward and sink at the Antarctic 

 Convergence as the Antarctic Inter- 

 mediate Water. This Is particularly 

 noticeable on the vertical salinity 

 profile. On the charts this mass of 

 cold water is shown as a broad band 

 of less saline water between about 

 lat. 40°S. and lat. 55°S. at a depth 

 of 200 meters and at a depth of 1000 

 meters. It does not appear at a 



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