SITKFACE WATERS OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN. 
i)3 
stationary, and the lower isothermals have moved southward west of long. 10° W. 
Off the west of Scotland and in the Faeroe-Shetland Channel the water is warmer 
West of the Faeroes temperature has scarcely changed. 
Salinity appears to have changed little in the western region, except for a fall in 
the neighbourhood of lat. 50° N. long. 40° W. East of long. 40° W. there is a farther 
etpialisation ; the 36 line has moved down to lat. 40° N., the 35‘5 line has straightened 
out towards the N.W. of Ireland, and salinity has increased slightly in the Faeroe 
Channel and towards the south of Iceland. The 35 line has moved nortliward in the 
North Sea, but a tongue of 35 water protrudes through the Straits of Dover. 
The changes in distrilmtion during the month are therefore small, colder and 
fresher water has Sj)read east of Newfoundland, the distribution of temperature and 
salinity has become more uniform in the south-east, nortii-east the surface water is 
slightly warmer, and salter. 
Compared with February, 1896, the distribution of temperature is more irregular in 
tlie south-west, the lines showing a dou])le bend, while the 5° line is apparently 
farther from the land. Salinity, on tlie other liand, sliows more uniform distri])ution. 
Temperature and salinity are lower in the south central and south-eastern regions— 
note the lines of 15° and 36 pro viille; and again south-east of Newfoundland. In 
lat. 50° N., long. 30° to 40° W., the conditions are little different from last year. 
Temperature and salinity are lower in the north-eastern regions and in the North Sea. 
March, 1897. — South of NeAvfoundland and the Chdf of St. Lawrence the iso¬ 
thermals have crowded together—the 15° line has moved northward and stralgldened 
out betweeii 50° and 60° W. long., and the 0° line appeal's nearly parallel and a long 
way from land. In the south central region the tongue foi'ined liy the 10° and 12° 
lines has disappeared, giving a rise of temjierature in about lat. 46° N., long. 43° W. 
Further east little change is apparent south of lat. 50° N., except that tlie 15° line 
has reappeared on the Poi'tuguese coast. 
West of Ireland and Scotland, and south of Iceland, a distinct rise of temperature 
is apparent, and this extends along a narrow axis west of the Orkneys and Shetlands, 
and into the North Sea. East and south-east of Iceland, on the other hand, 
temperature seems to have fallen. 
In the south-west the isohalines seem to be crovaled together in a manner similar 
to the isothermals, 1)ut the February observations are hardly sufficient for comparison. 
Between 40° and 50° N. lat. there is a very distinct movement of the isohalines to the 
N.W.. off' the Newfoundland Banks. East of this salinity ha,s also increased, the 
36 line having moved northward. In tlie north-east there appears to be little 
change, there is if anything a slight increase of saltness, except north-west of the 
Faeroe Islands. 
Thus the principal features are—a rise of temperature and salinity at tlie head ot 
the Gulf Stream, and a fall of temperature, and probably also of salinity, in the same 
region oft' the land; a I'ise of tenpierature and salinity in all the south central and 
