gives 5.92 million cubic meters per second and a mean temperature 

 of 2.63° C for the Labrador Current with an additional 2.96 million 

 cubic meters per second in the central eddy of the Labrador Sea. On 

 the Greenland side the total northwesterly moving volume of flow is 

 9.20 of which at least L44 is defmitely a part of the central eddy. The 

 remaining 7.76 with a mean temperature of 4.26° C probably consti- 

 tutes the efi'ective West Greenland Current although about L5 of it 

 has the central eddy as its source. 



In Bulletin 35 of this series approximate normal seasonal variation 

 curves were derived for the volume of flow of the two components 

 which usually make up the West Greenland Current at Cape Farewell, 

 the East Greenland Current and the Irminger Current, assuming con- 

 stant mean temperatures of 3.2° C and 5.5° C, rc^spectively, for these 

 components. If the volume of flow and the mean temperature of the 

 effective West Greenland Ciu'rc^nt found in 1950 are taken as 7.76 

 and 4.26 the breakdown into volume of flow of the two components, 

 using the same assumed mean temperatin-es, gives 4.18 for the East 

 Greenland Current component and 3.58 for the Irminger Current 

 component. From the preceding paragraph, however, it woifld seem 

 that about 1.5 on the oft'-shore side of the 7.70 is contributed directly 

 from the central eddy of the Lal)rador Sea. We also note that from 

 the diiference between the flow of the Labrador Current past the South 

 Wolf Island section and the northern section of the triangle about 

 2.92 million cubic meters per second reciu've to the eastward before 

 reaching the triangle and, with some admixture of water from the 

 outer margins of the Atlantic Current, probably contribute to the 

 West Greenland Current without making the journey to Iceland. 

 Thus about 1.5 plus 2.92 or 4.42 should be deducted from the 7.76 of 

 the effective West Greenland Current l)efore considering the remainder 

 as being composed of Irminger Current water and East Greenland 

 Current water. This would leave only 3.34 as being derived from these 

 sources. 



An examination of the velocity and temperature profiles shows that 

 the inshore 3.34 million cul)ic meters per second extend out to and just 

 beyond the axis of maximum velocities and have a mean temperature 

 of about 3.3° C. Thus by computation again, on the assumption of 

 constant mean temperatures of 3.2° and 5.5° for the East Greenland 

 Current and Irminger Current components, 3.2 is derived for the vol- 

 ume of the former and 0.14 for the latter. The conclusion is that the 

 contribution from the Irminger Current to the West Greenland Current 

 again was very small in 1950 although compensating mechanisms 

 bringing in other water from the North Atlantic eddy produced a 

 mean temperature of the West Greenland Current which was close to 

 normal. The volumes of flow expressed in millions of cubic meters 

 per second, the mean temperatures in degrees centigrade, and the 

 heat transport in millions of cubic meter degrees centigrade per second 



88 



