121 



33.31 "/oo, 500 meters (273 fathoms) thick on the slope but flattening 

 out into a surface film only 30 meters (16 fathoms) tliick offshore, 

 where water Salter than 34.5"/oo occupied the depths. 



Temperature.- — ^Co-limital with the water of 33%o, the temperature 

 was colder than 0°, except on the surface where it had been warmed 

 by the sun. The depth of penetration of the sun's heat is shown by 

 the 2° isotherm, which lies only 10 meters (5 fathoms) below the 

 surface. The freshness of this water eliminates any possibility of 

 its having; been heated through admixture with warm saline Atlantic 

 water. Both salinit}- and temperature, viz, 33.2"/(,o to 34''/oo and 

 — 0.5° to —1.3° (see p. 146), warrant the conclusion that the water 

 on the slope and, to a lesser degree, in over the bottom of the Bank, is 

 Labrador Current. But the latter was not so strong here at the Tail 

 on April 30-May 4, or in such large volume, as it had been two weeks 

 earlier, as shown by profile No. 3, though the Arctic water had 

 crept in on the bottom during that interval. 



PROFILE NO. 7— STATIONS 287-289 AND 296-297. 



The section runs southwest from station "C" (see chart "A") 

 across the slope into deep water. No attempt was made to extend, 

 the oceanographic investigation south to the Gulf Stream, as time 

 was limited and data were desired immediately regarding the Labrador 

 Current in order to predict the probable movement of certain bergs 

 which were floating around the Tail at the time. The stations were 

 taken May 2-4. It may be added that finding subsurface conditions 

 unchanged from those prevailing during April, it was predicted that 

 the bergs would continue to drift as they had been doing, viz, around 

 the Tail and on to the southwest slope. The prediction was verified 

 by the drifts of bergs as shown on chart ''B." 



Salinity. — The Bank was flooded by a column of water fresher 

 than 33 •'/oo- Offshore conditions were closely in agreement with 

 those at the Tail at this time. (See salinity profile No. 6.) 



Temperature. — Cold water below 0°, in rounded form, lay on the 

 slope and in over the Bank as an icy bottom cover. Since this 

 water of 33.20 "/qq and —1.35° exactly corresponds in salinity and 

 temperature to the Arctic water found 35 miles southeastward 

 around the Tail at this time, it indicates a connection which is traced 

 in the form of an extension of the Labrador Current, which had 

 flowed around the Tail and westward along the southwest slope. 



A comparison of profiles Nos. 2 and 7 shows that there was less 

 Arctic water on the southwest slope early in May than during the 

 middle of April, which points to a slacking in the flow of the current 

 from the north around the Tail and along the southwest slope during 

 the interval. 



