102 



Tliis water, at 150 iiioters (82 fatlioiiis). station oTT, was warmer 

 than the local water lying on the bank to the northward (station 

 ;{88. •2.8°-2.35° and 32.84-32'.80 V„o) and it was salter tlian indige- 

 nous slope water — 32. 08-38, 80 " ' To be so warm and so saline 



sucli water must have had an offshore connection, from which direc- 

 tion tlie warm and salty intrusions took place. The temperature 

 of the saltest water at the Tail. 2.3°-2.5°, and 34.46-34.69 %o in 

 the deeper hn^ers on the other hand is too cool for the warm offshore 

 Atlantic and too wann for Arctic origin, but. by virtue of both tem- 

 perature and salinity, is precisely of the character classified as in- 

 active, indigenous slope water. 



The temperature stratification at stations 378. and to a less marked 

 degree at station 377 to the northwestward, however, is typical of 

 arctic water.^^ The minimum temperature below the surface is often 

 a sign by which we may detect the presence of water of arctic char- 

 acter, even when sucli a mass has been transported considerable dis- 

 tances and admixture with otlier Avater masses of dissimilar char- 

 acter, such as coastal and Atlantic, has taken place. In contrast to 

 the polar tinges along the slope was the water at the Tail, which 

 grew steadily Avai-mer.- reaching a maximum of 3.1^ as we lowered 

 the thermometers close to the bottom. 



The loAvest temperatures found along the southwest slope. 

 0.6°, —0.4°. and — 0.1\ do not readily fall within the temperature 

 criteria that has been held to characterize more or less unadulterated 

 vrater from the far north. Such water, transported southward to the 

 Tail and along the southwest slope at this time in j^i-CAious years, has 

 been found most often to ]iossess a minimum temperature at least 

 as low as —1°. But the relatively higher than normal seasonal tem- 

 ])eratui*es found along the southwest slope, March 22-23, do not neces- 

 sarily signify a scarcity of arctic water. On the other hand, it may 

 be present but less recognizable, due to Avarming indirectly because 

 f)f the Avidespread mildness of the 1023-24 Avinter and the absence of 

 ice, all of Avliich certainly Avere responsible for Avarmer than normal 

 surface laj^ers of the ocean in the spring of 1924. In fact, the low- 

 est temperatures, 0.6°. —0.4°. and -0.1"^. found along the soutlnvest 

 slope, March '^2-23, show slight change from those found at the same 

 places the previous October. — (».4°. 1°, and —0.25°.^*^ The tem- 

 perature of the surface Avater lying over the continental shelf south 

 of XcAvfoundland Avas o°-7° Avarmer than usual the spring of 1924 ^' 

 and il is ]o<'i<'al to assiniie that anv northern water discharged 



"Mathews, D. .T. : Report on the work carried out by the steamer Sentw, l!ti:J. 

 1014. P. IC. 



'"Smith, Edwarrt II.: Inli"rnnti<nial Ico Obsfiviilion and Ice Patrol Sorvice. r. S. 

 C. O. Bull. No. II, pp. lol-lt>4. 



'"Sec Ocoiiiiogrnphpr's ropoi-t. AInrch. p. t'.ii. 



