Average Temperature and Salinity at a Depth of 200 Meters in the North Atlantic

¹ Contribution No. 668 from the Woods Hole This research was sponsored by the Office of Naval Oceanographic Institution.

Research under Contract Nonr-683 (00) (NR-083- 019).

Abstract

New charts are presented showing the average temperature and average salinity at a depth of 200 meters in the North Atlantic. These are compared with charts published by Wüst and Defant in 1936 and it is shown that, over most of the ocean, conditions are nearly constant at this depth. Attention is focused on the areas of changing temperature where the major ocean currents exist. It is shown that important details are obscured by the averaging process. The range of observed temperature is charted and supplements the information given by the average charts. The standard deviation from the mean temperature, calculated for two portions of the Gulf Stream System, indicates that when more observations are available such calculations may be of use in studying the major ocean current systems. Temperature anomalies from the mean for each degree of latitude are plotted and compared with data published by Wüst in 1937.

Notes

¹ Contribution No. 668 from the Woods Hole This research was sponsored by the Office of Naval Oceanographic Institution.

Research under Contract Nonr-683 (00) (NR-083- 019).