SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 7 



Ithat the ice was scarce. Another circumstance which greatly 

 anced the vahie of the observations of the Marion expedition w^as 

 fact that the Godthaab expedition simultaneously carried out an 

 anographic survey in the more northern waters of Baffin Bay, 

 )wing direct comparison. 



^he princijjal task of the Marion expedition was the collection of 

 ?cord of temperature and salinity — the raw data — from as many 

 •cted points of observation and depths as possible in the waters 

 Davis Strait. This material, consisting of over 2,000 surface and 

 surface observations, has been subjected to Bjerknes's (1910, 1911) 

 h'odynamic formulae according to the methods employed on 

 !rnational ice patrol and described by Smith (1926, pp. 1-50). 

 ls a result of the Marion expedition the prevailing oceanographic 

 ■ulation of Davis Strait has been mapped from the lower end 

 Baffin Bay to the latitude of St. Johns, Newfoundland. A com- 

 be report on the dynamic oceanography is to be published in Part 

 I this bulletin, entitled " The Marion Expedition Under the Direc- 

 1 of the U. S. Coast Guard, 1928. Scientific Results. The 

 y^sical Oceanography of Davis Strait."' (In press.) 

 'he dynamic topographic maps which are described and illus- 

 ed in Smith (1931) have been used in the present paper as 

 basis of describing and interpreting the direction and movement 

 he icebergs in Davis Strait. (See especially in this connection fig. 

 p. 147, in the present paper.) Our conclusions on the general 

 cement of icebergs in Baffin Bay have been based on the dynamic 

 ographic map (fig. 91, p. 139) constructed from the GodthoaVs 

 jrvations. The dynamic topographic map showing the stream 

 s of the gradient currents furnishes an excellent presentation of 

 normal courses taken by the icebergs, if we assume that the deep- 

 fted long-life icebergs outside coastal promontories are in the 

 n controlled by ocean currents. On several previous occasions I 

 e found a good agreement between the stream lines of the 

 rents as represented by the dynamic topographic maps (see figs. 

 , 104, 105, 106, p. 162) and the movement of the bergs in the Grand 

 ik region. See, in addition. Smith (1927, p. 118) (1927a, pp. 

 93). Since the current maps of the Marion expedition are similar 

 3very respect to those constructed on ice patrol, there is every 

 son to believe the agreement between calculated currents and ice 

 Pts holds equally true for Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. 

 'he Marion's 2,000 observations of salinity and temperature, cov- 

 ig the waters of Davis Strait (see station table data. Part 2 of 

 ; bulletin), thus constitute original basic data from which to 

 uce the circulation and the behavior of the ice. By synthesis 

 h the various earlier data it is now possible to present a connected 

 :ure of Arctic ice and of its southward drift. 



FLOATING ICE 



ce which is sighted floating at sea may have been formed either 

 the salt water itself or upon the land. Floating ice, therefore, 

 it is pertinent to the present discussion, separates into two great 

 isions as it hails from independent sources namely, land ice and 

 120860—31 2 



