heat transport at the South Wolf Ishmd section were close to average 

 values for the first time in several years. The volume transport was 

 the lowest found since 1948 and approximately the same as found in 

 1949, the beginning of the seven-year sequence of exceptionally active 

 circulation in the Labrador Sea. The volume transports found in 1955 

 have been shown schematically in figure 18. The tabulated values ot 

 volume of flow have been rounded off to the nearest tenth and in the 

 case of the Bonavista triangle it has been assumed that there was no 

 vertical volume transport across the 1,000-decibar refei-ence surface. 

 This figure will be referred to again after discussion of the Greenland 

 end of the South Wolf Island-Cape Farewell section. 



The dynamic topography of the sea surface in the neighborhood of 

 the section from South Wolf Island, Labrador, to Cape Farewell, 

 Greenland, is shown in figure 19. This topography is relative to the 

 1500-decibar surface, and since it is not supported by an adjacent 

 network of stations much has been inferred from temperature and 

 salinity distribution within the section and from the results of earlier 

 surveys. Figure 20 shows the temperature distribution along this 

 section and figure 21 gives the salinity distribution in the Greenland 

 half of the section. In figure 20 the frigid water of the Labrador 

 Current is apparent over the inner part of the shelf grading to the 

 warmer offshore part of the Labrador Current above the continental 

 slope. This warmer water of greater than 3.3° extends to the bottom 

 at intermediate depths along the slope and between depths of 1 ,000 and 

 2,000 meters is traceable seaward as a temperature maximum as far as 

 station 6026. A similar tongue of water warmer than 3.3° is traceable 

 seaward from the Greenland side. The resulting minima at inter- 

 mediate depths above these maxima include temperatures of from 

 3.11° to 3.17° thus classifying 1955 as one of the colder years. Of the 

 years for which data are available 1934-39, 1950 and 1954-55 were 

 years when the temperature minimum was about 3.17°. During the 

 other years for which data are available, 1940-41, 1948-49 and 1951- 

 53, the minimum was about 0.10° to 0.15° warmer. At the Greenland 

 end of the section the warmer water was disposed similarly to the dis- 

 tribution found in 1954 and the cross sectional areas between successive 

 isotherms from the 3.5° isotherm to the 6° isotherm were much the 

 same as in 1954 even though the 1955 occupation of the section was 

 about 6 weeks earlier in the summer than the 1954 occupation. 



The salinities shown in figure 21 show a general distribution similar 

 to that found in 1954. The extent and magnitude of the salinity 

 maximum, however, are less than in 1954, the highest salinity being 

 only 34.96°/oo. There is a possibility that a somewhat higher sal- 

 inity may have been missed in the interval between stations 6031 and 

 6032. 



As on the Labrador side, the Greenland end of the section showed a 

 decrease from the abnormally active circulation in the Labrador Sea 



73 



