BIGELOW: EXPLORATIONS OF THE COAST WATERS. 



223 



2.2° (Station 10213, 70 meters), and water as cold as 4° being confined 

 to a narrow belt next the land both at 40 meters (Fig. 59) and 100 

 meters. 



The general salinity cycle in the Gulf of Maine is as follows: — 

 In March the salinit}' of the whole column of water, in the western 

 part of the Gulf, is above 339co (1914b): during April the spring 

 freshets lower the surface salinity along the western shore to, or below, 

 32%o- However, this fresh land water does not spread far offshore 

 in early spring, for in May we found the surface of the Western Basin 



Fig. 68. — Salinity at 40 meters, August 31-September 7, 1915. 



about 339co (Fig. 61), though the surface all around the shores of 

 the Gulf, was then fresher than 32%o, this fresh belt spreading far 

 enough eastward from Xova Scotia to include German Bank and the 

 eastern part of the Eastern Basin (Station 10270). 



The 40 meter chart for this month (Fig. 62) shows much this same 

 distribution of salinity, i. e., high in the center of the Gulf, 32%o 

 or lower along the coast of Maine and from Nova Scotia to the 

 Eastern Basin. And the salinity profile for May (Fig. 70) is especially 



