nioiillis, tlie average values oi temperature aud heat transfer for lIus 

 section given in table 3 are perhaps misleading as the\- combine values 

 from different parts of the seasonal cycle. A curve representing the 

 approximate seasonal variation in the mean temperature of the West 

 Greenland Current at this section was presented in Bulletin No. 28 of 

 this series.'^ For the time of the season represented by the 1941 occu- 

 pation this curve would indicate a normal mean temperature of 5.0°, 

 from which it would seem that in 1941 the mean temperature was only 

 about a tenth of a degree colder than normal. The volume of flow was 

 somewhat greater than average. 



Table 3 shows that the Labrador Current off South Wolf Island was 

 about average as to mean temperature but decidedly subnormal as to 

 volume of flow and heat transfer. Ultimately, the data presented in 

 table 3 may help us to understand the year to year fluctuations in the 

 number of bergs appearing in the Grand Banks region. Many factors are 

 involved, including the number of bergs calved, their mortality rates 

 and the transportation facilities available to them. Mortality rates are 

 affected by both stranding and melting of the bergs and along the Labra- 

 dor coast both of these elements are probably related to the relative 

 strengths of the cold part of the current over the shelf and the warmer 

 offshore part of the current. One may infer from table 3 that since the 

 mean temperature was normal in 1941 both parts of the Labrador 

 Current were subnormal in volume of flow. 



The temperature distribution found in 1941 along the section from 

 South Wolf Island to Cape Farewell is shown in figure 28. On the 

 Labrador side, the cold water core over the shelf and the warmer off- 

 shore portion with temperatures in excess of 4° identify the Labrador 

 Current. On the Greenland side the West Greenland Current is to be 

 seen with a well-developed Irminger Current component with tempera- 

 tures in excess of 6°. The most striking feature of the Labrador Sea is 

 the remarkable uniformity of the water at intermediate depths. At least 

 in the summertime this intermediate water is characterized by a slight 

 temperature inversion. The lowest values found in this temperature 

 minimum were steady at a few hundredths of a degree less than 3.20° C. 

 over the period from 1934 through 1939. As mentioned earlier, this was 

 looked upon as a relic of the previous winter's chilling not completely 

 erased by the mixing processes which follow with the advent of warmer 

 weather. In the 1940 occupation of this section, the area in which the 

 temperature inversion was found was smaller than in previous years 

 and the value of the minimum temperature was nearly 0.1° warmer. 

 Figure 28 shows this temperature inversion to have been missing 

 completely during late July 1941. These progressive increases in temper- 

 ature have been accompanied by slight increases in salinity so that 

 little if any change in density of this intermediate water has been uwL-d. 



' Soule, Floyd M. IiUcrn;ttional Ice Observation and Ice Patrol Service in the North Atlantic Ocoaii — 

 Season of 1938. Oceanography. V. S. Coast Guard Bull. No. 2S, p. l.'iO (19-10), Washington. 



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