Note of the 1907 Cruise 57 



your 2 and 3, at the very end of August, 1907, while you did them 

 rather more than three weeks later. We found a large superficial 

 body of fresh water at both stations, and especially at Station 8 ; 

 while this had entirely disappeared from Station 7, and very nearly so 

 from Station 8, three weeks later. 



' At these stations the alternate pulse of comparatively fresh and 

 of oceanic water is a well-marked feature, and, on the whole, the flood 

 of fresh water occurs in summer, and is replaced by the Salter water 

 in winter. But the dates vary very much, and one of the diagrams 

 which I send you shows the conditions at or about the month of 

 September in 1905, 1906, and 1907, all at Station 8. You will see that 

 the fresh water was lacking in 1905, but abundant, according to our 

 observations, in 1907, and still more so in 1906. Your observations in 

 1907 correspond very closely with ours in 1905. 



' . . . . What we have in that region is a very rapid change of 

 conditions from place to place within a short distance, and you have 

 got into a body of water more similar to that which we found at 

 Station 9 to the westward than what we found nearer to your position, 

 three weeks earlier. I send you a note of our results at Station 9, 

 and a diagram of the salinities and temperatures found by us at 

 Stations 8 and 9 and by you in the neighbourhood of the former 

 station. You will see that your results are, on the whole, intermediate. 

 Accordingly, if the Silver Belle was a little farther to the west, or 

 the Goldseeker a little farther to the east of the given positions, or if, 

 on the other hand, the body of water, especially the surface water, had 

 moved a very few miles eastward during the three weeks, in either 

 case the apparent discrepancies would be very nearly explained, and 

 the results would not be so very far from correspondence. 



' It would seem, therefore, that while we, no doubt, want more 

 frequent observations in this region, so we also want more closely 

 contiguous stations. 



' Yours very faithfully, 



'D'Arcy Thompson.' 



