may be of use in determining the effects of water movements on bergs 

 in the area. The berg's position on the 2d and 5th of June, from air 

 sightings, are shown in figure 18. Upon completion of the occupation 

 of the triangle, the Evergreen located the berg in the position indi- 

 cated on the afternoon of the 7th and drifted with the berg until the 

 afternoon of the 8th. The berg's position at noon of that day is also 

 shown in figure 18. During the interval that the Evergreen was in 

 the vicinity of the berg, seven current determinations were made 

 with a von Arx current meter. The vector sum of the currents so 

 determined agreed Avith the observed set of the berg as to direction 

 but was smaller in magnitude than the observed drift and, if the sur- 

 face current be assumed to equal the berg's drift, would have re- 

 quired a value of the factor K equal to about 1.15. This is quite 

 reasonable in view of the comparatively shallow water and relatively 

 large proportion of the water column presumed to be in motion. 

 Quiet weather prevailed during the period the berg was under ob- 

 servation by the Evergreen. The berg's path between the sightings 

 on the 2d and the 5th is in accord with the dynamic isobaths shown 

 in figure 18, and is in that part of the area where the topography 

 is best known. The easterly movement of the berg between the 5th 

 and the 7th, across the isobaths as drawn, may be an exaggeration of 

 the error in drawing the isobaths when it is considered that the berg 

 was small (and consequently more affected by surface conditions) 

 and that from the time of its sighting on the 5th until the evening 

 of the 6th the winds were from the westerly quadrants and briefly 

 reached force 7 from the southwest on the evening of the 5th. 



Not much is known regarding the stability of the circulation pat- 

 tern in the vicinity of this branch point of the Labrador Current. 

 The repetition of the occupation of the triangle 2 weeks after the 

 first occupation was made in the hope of getting some information on 

 how rapidly the circulation pattern changes in this region. Com- 

 parison of figure 18 with figure 20 shows very little change in the 

 general pattern during the 2 -week interval. 



Tlie proportion in which tlie Labrador Current divides into its 

 eastern and western branches is probably best based on the proportion 

 of the volume of flow in the two branches. Expressed in millions 

 of cubic meters per second the volume of flow past the northern sec- 

 tion was computed to be 4.13 during the first occupation and 4.44 

 during the second occupation. For the southwestern section the first 

 and second occupations showed 0.72 and 0.84 respectively; and for 

 the southeastern section the volume of flow was computed to be 3.45 

 and 3.63. Thus, during the first occupation about 83 percent of the 

 volume of flow followed the eastern branch and about 81 percent 

 followed the eastern branch during the second occupation. This is to 

 be compared to about 78 percent found during July 1948. 



70 



