the North Atlantic eddy, either directly from its outer margins or 

 indirectly such as by way of the Irminger Current. In the case of the 

 salinity maximum water in the West Greenland Current, it is believed 

 to have come from the outer margins of the North Atlantic eddy 

 directly with some admixture of recirculating water of the Labrador 

 Sea. In the case of the higher salinity maximum water in the Green- 

 land triangle, its source is believed to have been the Irminger Current. 

 If this is true then the high phosphorus values found at station 5719 

 were undergoing rapid depletion and had reached the level of the low 

 phosphorus group by the time this water reached the southwestern 

 side of the triangle. Total phosphorus, then, could be of little use 

 as an indicator of the source of the salinity maximum water found in 

 the West Greenland Current. When the location of the observations 

 which form the high phosphorus group is considered, we find they are 

 spottily present along the inshore half of the northern section to 

 intermediate depths, present at one level only at station 5748 and 

 present to all depths at the southern end of the triangle and weaving 

 in and out of the southeastern section. Keeping in mind the simi- 

 larity between the high phosphorus curve and the Grand Banks 

 Atlantic Current curve at their deeper ends, the possibilit\^ is suggested 

 that the high phosphorus water at the southern end of the triangle and 

 along the southeastern side is supplied by the North Atlantic eddy 

 in the deeper levels. This would mean that the high phosphorus 

 curve for the Greenland triangle is a composite made up of the phos- 

 phorus characteristics of waters contributed by the Atlantic Current 

 and by the East Greenland Current. 



The alternative explanation is that all of the high phosphorus 

 water is supplied by the East Greenland Current. This accords 

 with the limitation to intermediate depths at the north side where it 

 first reaches the triangle and extending to all depths at the southern 

 end and southeastern side which is farther downstream. The almost 

 complete absence of high phosphorus water from the southwest side 

 of the triangle (except the southern corner) contradicts this explana- 

 tion. The Atlantic Current source of the high phosphorus water at 

 the southern corner and in the southeastern side is contradicted by 

 the low salinities in the upper 1,000 meters. The choice therefore, 

 is not clear cut and the authors have relied on the distribution of 

 density, temperature, and salinity in deducing the circulation, and 

 have considered that the total phosphorus concentration may be too 

 much affected by transient additions from the erratic migrations of the 

 sea's flora and fauna and their associated detritus to be a reliable 

 tracer of water masses. 



SUMMARY 



1. The surface circulation in the Grand Banks region during the 

 1954 ice patrol season has been discussed on the basis of four d^iiamic 

 topographic surveys made between 1 April and 2 Jul}'. 



114 



