from the surface to the draft of the berg, and the direct wind effect on 

 the berg. (Winds were hght and principally from the southwest 

 quadrant.) 



One of the proposed uses of the von Arx current meter is the location 

 of a berg by the patrol cutter by searching down stream as indicated 

 by the current meter when the search can begin at a reported previous 

 position of the berg within a few days of the report. If rotary currents 

 are present in the area the "down stlream" mdication of the current 

 meter will not be in the direction of the average current. If the 

 amplitude of the rotary current is small in comparison with the average 

 current the search path will approximate a direct approach to the berg 

 along a geostrophic current line. However, as the amplitude of the 

 rotary current approaches the magnitude of the average current the 

 search path will become less direct and will be cycloidal in the limiting- 

 case where the amplitude of the rotary current equals the magnitude 

 of the average current. 'V\ ith proportionately greater rotary currents 

 the search method becom.es inefficient and would break down but for 

 the practical consideration that it is expected that the amplitudes of 

 actual rotary currents are small and if the average current is less than 

 the rotary current the berg will not have moved far from its reported 

 position. 



The temperature distribution along the vertical section from South 

 Wolf Island, Labrador, to Cape Farewell, Greenland, found during the 

 postseason cruise is shown in figure 27. At the left-hand side of the 

 figure the frigid inshore part of the Labrador Current with its char- 

 acteristic temperature minimum is to be seen over the shelf. The 

 warmer offshore part of the Labi-ador Current extends farther seaward 

 of the slope than is usual. The tongue of warmer water which extends 

 to bottom beneath the Labrador Current at the edge of the shelf is 

 shown between the isotherms of 3.8° C and reached maximum values 

 of about 3.9°. This is regarded as a return to normal from the colder 

 temperatures of 1949. On the Greenland side the temperature 

 maximum usually associated with the Irminger Current component of 

 the West Greenland current, while nearly 1° warmer than in 1949, 

 was still subnormal and less than 6° C. The temperature minimum 

 which is characteristic of the intermediate water of the Labrador Sea 

 in summer is seen to have been present in its characteristic shape and 

 extent and to have returned to the temperatures found so consistently 

 dm-ing the summers of 1934-39. The minimum of about 3.17° C 

 found during those years and in 1950 is about 0.15° colder than in 1949. 

 The salinity distribution found in the northeastern half of this 

 section is shown in figure 28. In 1949 the Irminger Current component 

 of the West Greenland cm-rent was almost completely absent. The 

 salmity maximum associated with this water is normally about 

 35.047oo and, until 1949, had been remarkably constant. In 1949 

 the maximum dropped to 34.97''/oo and in 1950 it was very nearly as 



85 



