SUEFACE WATEES OF THE HOETH ATLANTIC OCEAN. 
99 
November, 1897.—In the soutli-westerii region the higher isothermals at the 
head of the Gulf Stream have scarcely moved, but temperature has fallen to the 
west along the land, and in the area south and east of Newfoundland. East of this 
area temperature remains unchanged till about long. 30° W., where there is a marked 
fall, the 15° line opening out southward : east of 25° W. there is again no change. 
In the north-eastern region the temperature has fallen very slightly, chiefly to the 
west of Scotland, where a large area of about 10° temperature appears. In the region 
north of 50° N. lat. and on each side of 40° W. long, a very marked fall has taken 
place—the 10° isothermal is bent sharply round in lat. 50° N. long. 47° W., and runs 
almost due east for about 8°. 
West of Cape Race there is no significant change of salinity. The fresh water off 
Newfoundland extends further eastward, and east of long. 45° W. ail the lines have 
spread out south-eastward and southward in the direction of the Azores. In the 
north-east all the higher isohaiines have moved southward—the 35'5 line does not 
get beyond 54° N. lat., and the 35'3 line scarcely crosses lat. 60°N. Note, however, 
that the 35 line appears between Norway and Spitsbergen. In the central area 
between the 50th and 60th parallels there is little change in the north (35’0 and 35'3 
lines south of Greenland) ; in the southern half there is the southward movement 
already referred to, and the 35 and 3 5'3 lines also bend farther eastward. 
The chief changes are thus the increased area occupied by relatively cold and fresh 
•water east of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the extension of this area southward 
towards the Azores. 
At the head of the Gulf Stream (long. 55° to 60° W.) the temperature and 
salinity are much the same in the two years, hut south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
and Newfoundland a much larger area is occupied in 1897 by water of temperature 
about 5° and salinity below 34 pro mille. The stee}) salinity gradients and complex 
distribution of temperature east of the intersection of the 50th })arallel and 40th 
meridian in 1896 are not reproduced, for the colder fresher area extends more to the 
southward {i.e., towards the Azores), and not so much to the eastward (towards 
Ireland). Note the different positions of the 10°, 12°, and 15° isothermals, and the 
35'0, 35'5, and 36’0 isohaiines. 
In the north-eastern region and south of Iceland temperature and salinity are 
markedly higher in 1897 : the isohaline of 35 runs south-west froiu Iceland right 
across the area occupied by water below 34 in 1896. The type of distribution is on 
the whole the same, the fresher and colder areas extending more eastwards in 1896 
and southwards in 1897. 
December, 1897.—West of Cape Race a considerable fall of temperature has taken 
place, the 10° line touching lat. 40° N. just off Cape Cod. South and east of 
Newfoundland temperature has fallen largely, an axis of ice-cold water stretching 
south-eastward over the region covered by the 15° line last month. North of the 
Azores temperature has risen a little, hut elsewhere there is a general fall of about 
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