Three Detailed Cross-Sections of the Gulf Stream

Three sections across the Gulf Stream in which deep temperature and salinity observations were made close intervals show that comparably large values of surface current velocity are obtained from at dynamic computations, the Geomagnetic-Electrokinetograph (G.E.K.) and from navigational data. The dynamic computations indicate that the crosscurrent slope of the isobaric surfaces is uneven, resulting theoretically in three or four zones of high velocity separated by zones of lower velocity. The navigational and GEK measurements do not clearly reflect this picture. It is suggested that the unevenness of the slopes of the isobaric surfaces is related to the surface temperature discontinuities observed in the Gulf Stream by von Arx and Richardson (1953) from aircraft, and that the Stream is composed of overlapping, discontinuous currents at all levels.