Short period vertical oscillations in the western basin of the North Atlantic

Abstract

Because of general interest in the subject of vertical oscillations in the sea and because such information is scanty for the ocean basins, an investigation of the question in the western North Atlantic was initiated by the establishment of "Atlantis" station 2639, July 9 to 13, 1936. The significance of vertical oscillations in the sea has been known from the earlier work of Helland-Hansen and Nansen, and, in 1926, these authors summarized their conception of the problem as follows: "By earlier investigations we have found that there are probably considerable vertical oscillations of the water layers in various regions of the ocean. Hence the occasional vertical series of observations cannot be expected always to represent the average conditions at any particular station. It is therefore of great importance for the discussion of the general conditions in a sea-area on the basis of the observations made, to study how far these actual observations at the different stations and different depths may be regarded as representative." Also, in this same paper we find the statements: "It has already been mentioned that the oscillations described have obviously to a great extent some connection with the tides; but how the tidal wave can produce vertical movements of such dimensions in the different strata of the sea seems to us at present to be inexplicable. We have here a phenomena of fundamental importance to oceanography, which has to be made the subject of special methodical investigations."