3727 (1.25) and that between stations 3727 and 3741 (1.19) and an un- 

 measured contribution to the Labrador Current by the Baffin Land 

 Current. By difference between the sum of these volumes crossing the 

 ridge section and the volume crossing the Loks Land section the con- 

 tribution of the Baffin Land Current to the Labrador Current is derived 

 as 1.54 million cu. m./sec. 



As noted above, the volume of flow past the ridge section between 

 stations 3741 and 3746, and representing the sum of the Baffin Land 

 Current contribution to the Labrador Current, and a portion of the closed 

 eddy in southwestern Baffin Bay, was found to be 2.65 miUion cu. m./sec. 

 By difference then, that portion of the closed eddy of Baffin Bay included 

 in the northern end of the ridge section was 1.11 milHon cu. m./sec. 



The circulation inferred from the volumes of flow discussed in the 

 foregoing is shown schematically in figure 36 in which the computed 

 vokimes of flow past the various sections have been rounded off to the 

 nearest 0.1 million cu. m./sec. and balanced to a consistent picture on 

 the assumption that no significant net gain or loss occurs in the horizontal 

 exchange through Hudson Strait or in the vertical exchange across the 

 reference surface of 1,500 decibars. The net contribution of the Arctic 

 to Baffin Bay of about 0.1 million cu. m./sec, as indicated by the differ- 

 ence between the West Greenland Current entering Baffin Bay and the 

 Baffin Land Current coming out of Baffin Bay, is so small as to be of 

 the order of magnitude of the error involved in the methods used in its 

 •derivation and is much smaller than the value of about one million 

 cu. m./sec. obtained b}^ Smith, Soule and Mosby^ from a consideration 

 of five sections between Baffin Island and Greenland occupied in the 

 vicinit}^ of Davis Strait in 1924 by the Michael Sars and in 1928 by the 

 Godthaab and Marion. Not all of these sections were close enough to 

 Davis Strait to be usable in deducing the exchange between the Labrador 

 Sea and Baffin Bay, but four of them gave figures approximating 2.2 

 million cu. m./sec. as the volume of flow of the Baffin Land Currenc 

 through the strait. This is to be compared to the smaller figure of 1.5 

 derived above for 1948. Their mean of four sections of the West Green- 

 land Current through the strait was 1.13 million cu. m./sec. as com- 

 pared with the 1948 figure of about 1.4. Thus it would appear that in 

 1948 an extremely small net contribution from the Arctic, accompanying 

 a reduced circulation in Baffin Bay, was partially compensated for by an 

 increase in water entering through Davis Strait from the Labrador Sea. 

 This contribution to Baffin Bay has been called the contribution of the 

 West Greenland Current. 



The West Greenland Current, however, has been looked upon as 

 having its origin in the junction of the East Greenland Current and the 

 Irminger Current in the vicinity of Cape Farewell, and as pointed out 



^ Smith, Ed. H., Floyd M. Soule, and Olav Mosby, "Scientific Results of the Marion and General 

 Greene Expeditions to Davis Strait and Labrador Sea-Physical Oceanography", U. S. Coast Guard 

 Bull. No. 19, pt. 2, p. 71 (1937), Washington. 



89 



