2)6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. /O 



This protrusion of the Gulf Stream in the spring- of 1903 was 

 indicated by marked positive anomahes of the surface tempera- 

 tures in the w^hole w^estern part of the ocean. In February, the 

 positive anomahes were most conspicuous in the fields westward 

 of 60° west, although they were to be found also between 40° 

 and 50° west. In March and April the anomalies were strongly 

 increased, and spread eastward in the ocean to 45° west longitude 

 in March, and even to 30° west longitude in April. After this they 

 withdrew in a westerly direction and the principal part of the 

 ocean was rather strongly below the normal temperature during 

 the whole summer and the first part of the autumn. 



Schott does not explain why such an increase of the activity of 

 the Gulf Stream should have produced so strong an intensification 

 of the much smaller and relatively inconsiderable Labrador Stream 

 as to produce an end result of a powerful cooling of the surface 

 of the Atlantic Ocean in almost its whole extent, instead of a warm- 

 ing of it, which would have been expected. Neither does he explain 

 how it is that the Labrador current could distribute cold water- 

 masses over the surface of the ocean, notwithstanding the fact, 

 as Meinardus has brought out, that in consequence of increased 

 density its water tends to sink below that of the warm Gulf Stream. 



Let us now consider for comparison the results of our investiga- 

 tion of the surface temperatures in the same ocean region, Channel 

 to New York, which Schott investigated. These give us a some- 

 what different picture from the results of Schott. The negative 

 temperature anomalies are on the whole greater, and have a greater 

 distribution over the surface of the ocean than he found in Febru- 

 ary and March up to April, and there is in these months no 

 appearance of such an increase of the activity of the Gulf Stream 

 as he describes. Not only in the eastern part of the ocean in 

 February (see pi. 26), but also in all the western part between 

 60° and 70° west longitude we find positive anomalies in February 

 as well as in March and April. Although there is a progressive 

 increase in these westerly positive anomalies in these months, it 

 finds no extension eastward. It even happens that in the neighbor- 

 ing fields, between 50° and 60° west, there is an increase of nega- 

 tive anomaly from February to March-April, as well as in the 

 whole o'cean eastwards (see pis. 27, 26, the curve W below and 

 fig. 20, and No. 41 of the curves for 1903). 



These discrepancies between Schott's results and ours appear 

 the more noteworthy since at least in a great part we have used 



