Current water to be fartlier south than usual, one might expect that 

 the Irminger Current contribution to the "West Greenland Current 

 at Cape Farewell would be smaller than usual the following summer. 

 The few available data do not show such a simple relationship. 



If the area between the boundary of Atlantic Current water and 

 fixed reference rhumb lines in the Grand Banks region be taken as a 

 measure of the southward retreat of the northern margin of the 

 North Atlantic eddy, and if the curve for the Irminger Current water 

 component of the West Greenland Current shown in figure 32 be 

 taken as a normal curve, the southward retreat of the northern 

 boundary of the North Atlantic eddy for the period 1934 to 1941 

 is represented by the solid curve in figure 33 and the departure from 

 normal of the computed Irminger Current contribution to the West 

 Greenland Current the following summer is represented by the five 

 points plotted in figure 33. Only one other point is available and 

 has been omitted from figure 33 because of the considerable interval 

 of time. The single survey of 1948 gave an area of 7.80 and in 1949 

 the Irminger Current component of the West Greenland Current was 

 computed to be 2.53 below normal. The units of area are 10,000 

 square kilometers and the Irminger Current units are 1 million 

 cubic meters per second volume of flow. It would seem from the 

 foregoing that other important modifying factors are interposed 

 between the Grand Banks and the Irminger Current at Cape Fare- 

 well. 



SUMMARY 



1. Three dynamic topographic charts of the ice-patrol area in the 

 Grand Banks region resulting from as many surveys form the basis 

 of a discussion of the circulation in that area during the 1949 ice 

 season. 



2. The location of the northern boundary of Atlantic Current 

 water found during one survey made in 1948 and two surveys in 1949 

 has been discussed with respect to fluctuation in the difference in sea 

 level across the Gulf Stream at the Charleston-Bermuda section and 

 the strength of the Labrador Current in the Grand Banks region. 



3. The temperature-salinity relationships of the different water 

 masses found in the Grand Banks region in 1949 have been discussed 

 and compared witli conditions found in previous years. 



4. The subnormal volume of flow of the Labrador Current in the 

 Grand Banks region, found consistently during the 1949 season, has 

 been related to a deficiency in the contribution of the West Greenland 

 Current to the Labrador Current. 



5. The division of the Labrador Current, just north of the Grand 

 Banks, into the branches which flow along the Avalon Peninsula 



87 



