105 



In jEigure 32 such departures from normal mean temperature have 

 been plotted against time for each of the 10 occupations of the section. 

 In the same figure the corresponding volumes of flow also have been 

 plotted against time. It is pointed out that even with such infre- 

 quent observations, figure 32 shows a negative correlation in all but 

 1 of the 9 intervals. In other words, with the exception of the mterval 

 between the 1936 and 1938 occupations every time the volume of 

 flow increased the mean temperature became colder with reference 

 to the season of the year. It is quite possible that the conditions 

 existing in 1937 were those of larger volume and lower temperature 

 than in 1936 or 1938, in which case the correlation would be negative 



1933 1934 



1938 1939 



Figure 32.— Comparison of variations in the volume of flow of the West Greenland Current at Cape 

 Farewell and departures of its mean temperature from normal. 



thi'oughout. The patent interpretation of this negative correlation 

 is that fluctuations in the volume of flow of the West Greenland 

 Current arise chiefly from fluctuations in the East Greenland Current 

 rather than the Irminger Current. 



Attention is drawn to the apparent trends toward greater volume 

 of flow and lower temperature shown by the curves in figure 32 for 

 the period from 1928 to 1939, the increase in volume approximating 

 2)'i million cubic meters per second and the decrease in mean tempera- 

 ture about a half degree. These trends, if genuine, may be asso- 

 ciated with the present phase of the Greenland climatic cycle which 

 Jensen ^ says is now one of decreasing temperature. 



SUMMARY 



1. Four current surveys of the Ice Patrol area in the vicinity of the 

 Grand Banks, made during the 1939 season, have been described. 



8 Jensen, Ad. S. Concerning a change of climate during recent decades in the arctic and subarctic regions 

 from Greenland in the west to Eurasia in the east and contemporary biological and geophysical 

 Det. Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Biologiske Meddelelser XIV, 8. Copenhagen, 1939. 



