79 



and low visibility. The United States Pilot Chart shows 30 to 35 

 per cent days of fog, 



SUMIMARY 



"We found variable surface currents off the east slope of the Grand 

 Banks. Once during the month we crossed the " giilley " and found 

 no appreciable current. Surface temjDeratures over the Grand Banks 

 warmed 6° during the month, and 5° in the Atlantic water south of 

 the Tail. Ice continued' to be absent from the Grand Banks region, 

 none being south of parallel 48° 42' north ; this in a month when it is 

 normally at a maximum. It is believed the bergs found strewn 

 along the coast between the Strait of Belle Isle and Cape Bonavista, 

 a total of at least 75 bergs and hundreds of growlers, were trapped 

 in those regions, and in the main explains the remarkable absence 

 of bergs southward near the steamship tracks. The winds were 

 variable during the first half of the month and then shifted to the 

 prevailing southerlies, which are normal with the advance of sum- 

 mer. There was less fog during the month than has been found to be 

 normal. 



JUNE 



The only iceberg which was in the ice regions held the attention 

 and the presence of the patrol vessel in its locality off the east coast 

 of Newfoundland nearly the entire month. This berg was desig- 

 nated as berg No. 3, and its geographical location is shown on sketch 

 No. 4.^ It melted to such proportions by the 23d instant that it no 

 longer constituted a menace and the patrol was enabled to devote the 

 last few days of the month to oceanographic investigation of the 

 Grand Bank region. The currents observations for June, therefore, 

 were all in the locality of berg No. 3, and are shown on the sketch 

 of its drift. 



Surface thermal conditions of the waters of the ice regions are 

 shown on charts K and I. for the iirst and second halves of the 

 month, respectively. It will be noted that the position of the " cold 

 wall " moved somewhat south of its limits as defined on previous 

 charts, I, J, etc., its southern bound being in the vicinity of latitude 

 40° 45' north, during June. The frigid northern water which usu- 

 ally floods the northern part of the Grand Bank warmed from its 

 temperature of 39° on the surface the latter part of May to 41° 

 the first half of June and later in the month to 43°, a total rise of 

 4° in an interval of one month. On the southern part of the Bank, 

 in the vicinity which has come to be regarded as a tidal reservoir, 

 the water was waraied 5° — 45° to 50° by the last few days of 



» See sketch No. 4, p. 80. 



