BIGELOW: EXPLORATIONS IN THE GULF OF MAINE. 97 



with salinities of 32 or less, along the east coast of Nova Scotia. And 

 if the Gulf of Maine receives any regular accessions of northern water 

 of low salinity, it is probably from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, not from 

 the Labrador Current. 



The temperatures of the Gulf of Maine are, of course, very low in 

 comparison with the Gulf Stream off shore; and its surface tempera- 

 ture, at least, is considerably lower than the average for its latitude, 

 about 57°, as calculated by Kriimmel, (1904) as against a probable 

 yearly mean of about 48° for the Gulf. But we must remember in 

 this connection that on the east coast of North America cyclonic at- 

 mospheric disturbances move as a whole from the land out over the 

 sea, not from sea to land, as they do over Western Europe, and con- 

 sequently, that the coastal waters may be expected to take their tem- 

 peratures from the land climate instead of the latter being governed 

 by oceanic temperatures, as is the case in Europe. 



If the Gulf of Maine were an enclosed basin, we would expect its 

 bottom temperature to be about the same as the mean annual tempera- 

 ture of the surrounding land-mass, just as Nordgaard, (1903) has found 

 it for the Norwegian fjords. And as a matter of fact, the lowest 

 temperatures which we encountered in the Gulf are practically the 

 same as the mean annual for northern New England, i. e., that portion 

 of the land mass from which the chilling winds of autumn and winter 

 blow. The considerable snowfall must likewise be an active factor 

 in chilling the surface water in winter, while the inrush of fresh snow- 

 water, only a few degrees above freezing point, in spring, may be 

 expected to show its effect in retarding the warming of the coast water 

 as the season advances. Furthermore, the considerable thickness 

 of the bottom water of uniform temperature in the western part of the 

 Gulf, is good evidence of winter cooling, while our observations show 

 that the temperature was lowest in the western half, just where cooling 

 land winds and snow are most active, instead of in the eastern, where 

 a northern current might be expected to show itself most clearly. 

 Thus Verrill was probably correct in his contention that the waters 

 of the Gulf are not abnormally cold, considering their geographic 

 location, and the climate of the neighboring land mass. 



The possibility that cold northern water enters our Gulf in small 

 amounts is not forbidden by the conclusion that the low temperature 

 of the latter is chiefly due to winter cooling. On the contrary, the 

 fact that the bottom temperatures on the coastal banks along the coast 

 of Nova Scotia are much lower than at corresponding depths in the 

 Gulf or further west, and that they decrease from southwest to north- 



