DAVIS STRAIT AND LABRADOR SEA 39 



north by the Baffin Land Current. The degree of Arctic character, 

 moreover, of the waters of the west Greenland sector at any given 

 time of the year is determined directly by the extent and the magni- 

 tude of the above two salients intruding from opposite direct:ions. 

 Baggesgaard-Rasmussen and Jacobsen (1930) have likewise pointed 

 out the difference in the origin of the two regional cold-water areas 

 along the west coast of Greenland. 



On the other hand the course of the 7° isotherm, near Godthaab, in 

 1928, appears to mark a central zone, freest from Arctic chilling of 

 all the west coast. In truth the fairly large area off Godthaab 

 with temperatures between 7 and 8 degrees, and which extended north- 

 ward along the continental slope to the Holsteinsborg section, appears 

 so warm as to suggest an Atlantic source. The warmest water region 

 of all, however (9°), lay outside the more rapid currents, over the 

 deeper water in the Labrador Sea. 



If the surface temperature map (fig. 13) be superimposed on the 

 surface current map (fig. 8), it is found that the tongue of coldest 

 water embraced by the 4°, 5°, and 6° isotherms coincides with the axis 

 of the West Greenland Current, the water warming 2° along its jjath. 

 Cape Farewell to Fylla Bank. There the cooling influence of the east 

 Greenland Arctic water, at least on the surface, appears to have been 

 spent. Tlie tendency of the cool Avater to keep to the slope in contrast 

 to branching westward as was noted for much of the West Greenland 

 Current indicates that the east Greenland Arctic water constituted 

 some of the lightest surface layers of the West Greenland Current and 

 occupied tlie inshore band. 



Continuing northward, the temperature gradient on figure 13 re- 

 versed, with cooler and cooler water being entered until the 4° iso- 

 therm was reached on the border of the Baffin Land Current in Davis 

 Strait. The position of the 5° isotherm, moreover, indicates that this 

 Arctic influence made itself felt even as far south as Little Hellefiske 

 Bank in the west Greenland sector. Both Little Hellefiske and Great 

 Hellefiske Banks, in themselves, however, appear freer from Arctic 

 intrusion, a condition previously remarked by Nielsen (1928), with 

 solar radiation a more noticeable factor than along the deeper parts 

 of the slope to the north and south. 



The warmest water, with the exception of the Labrador Sea (fig. 

 13) was found in Disko Bay. Both of these regions, it will be noted, 

 are outside the main paths of gradient currents, and undisturbed, the 

 surface layers absorb a maximum amount of heat from the summer's 

 sun. 



Figure 14 indicates a uniform distribution of the salinity in the 

 west Greenland sector which increased from a minimum near the 

 shore (30.44%o off Ivigtut), to >34.50%o, a maximum, near the 

 1,000-meter isobath of the slope. Such a distribution supports previ- 

 ous statements regarding the relative position of east Greenland, 

 Arctic, and coastal water. 



Paralleling the tongue of east Greenland Arctic water but approxi- 

 mately 20 miles offshore of it, we found at a depth of 100 meters, fig- 

 ures 15 and 16, a tongue of water of 6° temperature and >35%o salin- 

 ity — the warmest and saltest water of the entire region. Reference 

 to the current map (fig. 8) unmistakably identifies this water as At- 

 lantic in origin, an extension of the Irminger Current around Cape 



