22 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XIII, January 1959 
Fig. 4. a. Section to 140 m. between Wellington and Dunedin, March 21, 22, 1951. STC = position of sub- 
tropical convergence. Stations indicated by a circle are those at which bathythermograph casts were made; surface 
temperatures were taken at positions marked by dots. 
b. Surface thermograph trace between 37° 32' S. and 178° 29'E. and Dunedin, mid-April, 1951. STC = position 
of subtropical convergence in 43° 24'S. 174° 34'E. (position A) distant 45 mi. and bearing approximately 96° 
from Station 330. 
Few detailed data are available concerning 
the properties of the eastern central and 
southern Tasman Sea water. ^ That it is warmer 
and more saline than water of subantarctic 
origin is demonstrated by the temperatures 
and salinities of surface samples from the 
west of North Island between Wellington and 
North Cape (small open circles, Fig. 3). 
These data are of winter (July) conditions 
and consequently temperatures are low in 
comparison with the rest of the stations, 
which are summer stations. The temperature 
ranges between 12.5° and 17.5°C. and the 
salinity between 35.0 and 35.5°/oo, values 
which are within those described for sub- 
tropical waters by Deacon (1937). For this 
2 Since this paper went to press, Rochford, D. J. 
(1957) has published an account of the waters of the 
Tasman Sea. He indicates that for the area west and 
south of South Island, New Zealand, subantarctic wa- 
ter exerts the main influence at all times. However, 
his data do not preclude the possibility that during 
spring and summer months some influence from warm 
Tasman Sea water ( in part, my "water of subtropical 
origin") may penetrate southwards along the west 
coast towards Foveaux Strait. See his figure 25b. 
