PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OF THE GULF OF MAINE 
775 
Salinity on German Bank, August to September 
Station 
Date 
Depth 
Salinity 
Vertical 
range 
10029 
Aug. 14,1912 
Aug. 12,1913 
Aug. 12,1914 
Sept. 2,1915 
Meters 
/ 0 
\ 64 
/ 0 
\ 65 
/ 0 
\ 55 
1 0 
\ 65 
Per mille 
32. 70 
32.92 
32.75 
32. 94 
32. 84 
32. 90 
32.23 
32.56 
Per mille 
| 0.22 
} .19 
\ .06 
} .33 
10065 _ _ 
10244 _ 
10311.. 
In the deeper parts of the gulf the vertical distribution of salinity at depths 
greater than 50 to 70 meters depends less on the tide (very active tidal stirring is 
$ 
<0 
<0 
•P 
to 
Fig. 140 — Salinity profile crossing the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, Gloucester to Cape Cod, just 
west of Stellwagen Bank, August 22, 1922. The broken curve is the contour of the bank 
for the most part confined to the shoaler parts of the gulf) than on the configuration 
of the bottom, as affecting the free circulation of the water of high salinity that- 
drifts into the basin via the trough of the Eastern Channel. One extreme is illus 
trated by the deep bowl or sink off Gloucester, where a depth of 181 meters is 
inclosed by a rim rising to within about 75 meters of the surface at its deepest 
point. Here, on each of our summer visits (figs. 104 and 139), we have found a very 
rapid increase in salinity with depth down to the 40 to 50-meter level, succeeded by 
a much more gradual increase from that depth down to the bottom. More con- 
cretely, the maximum vertical range between 40 meters and bottom has been only 
about 0.2 per mille here at any summer station, contrasting with a range of 0.6 to 1 
per mille of salinity between the surface and the 40-meter level. Evidently the 
submarine rim of this bowl is so effective a barrier that the water inclosed by it is 
