PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OF THE GULF OF MAINE 
697 
Snowfall, in inches 
WINTER, 1912-13 
Locality 
November 
December 
January 
February 
March 
Boston 
0.3 
9.2 
0.3 
7.7 
0.5 
Portland. 
0) 
2. 0 
4. 7 
5.0 
14. 1 
5.1 
Eastport _ 
6. 9 
7.9 
14. 6 
9.3 
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia 
12.2 
7.7 
1.2 
16.3 
3.5 
WINTER, 1914-15 
Boston 
0) 
4.1 
7.0 
5.1 
0) 
Portland.. 
7.4 
8.1 
1.9 
10.5 
0.8 
Eastport... - 
4.5 
9.0 
12.2 
10.3 
4.8 
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia 
4. 1 
15.3 
10.2 
7.2 
2.5 
WINTER, 1915-16 
Boston 
0.2 
6.7 
4.8 
30.3 
33.0 
Portland 
(>) 
12.1 
12.2 
20.2 
36.3 
Eastport 
(') 
4.4 
14.0 
21.8 
14.7 
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia 
3.0 
6.1 
21.3 
29.4 
53.4 
WINTER, 1919-20 
0.2 
2.9 
24.8 
32. 5 
11. 0 
Portland 
2. 7 
4.3 
24.2 
44.6 
13. 6 
Eastport 
1.9 
16.9 
20.2 
37.2 
14.2 
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia _ 
2.4 
13.6 
28.0 
15.2 
3.7 
i Trace 
On the average, the coastwise belt of the gulf annually receives a blanket of 
snow aggregating about 42 inches in thickness off Boston, 66 inches at Portland, 
76 inches off Eastport, and 79 inches at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Translated 
roughly into terms of ice, this means 4.5, 11, 8.5, and 9 inches, respectively, or an 
equivalent of about 8 inches of ice as the mean for the coastwise belt from the 
land out about to the 25-meter contour. Farther out from the shore a larger pro- 
portion of the winter’s precipitation comes down as rain, less as snow, but no meas- 
urements of the snowfall have been made at any offshore station in the gulf. 
As to melt 1 kilogram of ordinary fresh-water ice requires heat enough to raise 
the temperature of 75 to 80 kilograms of water by 1°, 76 melting 8 inches of ice will 
take heat enough from the water to cool a stratum 12 to 14 meters thick by about 1° ; 
and probably this is a fair measure of the average cooling effect of snow falling on 
the coastwise belt of the Gulf of Maine within 5 to 10 miles of the land. 
CHILLING EFFECT OF MELTING ICE 
The melting of floating ice in high northern and high southern latitudes exerts a 
potent effect upon the distribution of temperature 77 in the North Atlantic; and the 
melting of ice, whether frozen locally or of Arctic origin (p. 689), is the most potent 
76 Recent measurements place the latent heat of fresh-water ice between 75 and 80.3 calories. (Kriimmel, 1907, p. 507.) 
77 Salt-water ice is less effective as a cooling agent than fresh-water ice (floe ice, that is, than berg ice), because its latent heat of 
melting is somewhat lower. Petterson (1883) gives this as approximately 52 to 53 calories for ice frozen from water of about the 
salinity of the Gulf Maine. 
