Sea surface salinity (SSS) was measured since 1896 along 60¿N between Greenland and the North Sea and since 1993 between Iceland and Newfoundland. Along 60¿N away from the shelves, and north of 53¿N, the amplitude of the seasonal cycle is comparable to or less than interannual variability. In these parts of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre, large-scale deviations from the seasonal cycle correlate from one season to the next. This suggests that in these regions, summer and autumn surface data are useful for monitoring changes in upper ocean salinity best diagnosed from less common winter surface data. Further south near the subarctic front, the Labrador Current or near shelves where seasonal variability is strong, this is not the case. Along 60¿N, the multiannual low-frequency variability is well correlated across the basin and exhibits fresher surface water since the mid 1970s than in the late 1920s to 1960s. SSS in the Irminger Sea along 60¿N lags by 1-year SSS farther east in the Iceland Basin. Variability between Iceland and Newfoundland within the Irminger Sea north of 54¿N presents similar characteristics to what is observed along 60¿N. Variability near the northwest corner of the North Atlantic Current (52¿N/45¿W) is larger and is not correlated to what is found further north. Maps of SSS were constructed for a few recent seasons between July 1996 and June 2000, which illustrate the fresh conditions found usually during that period across the whole North Atlantic subpolar gyre, although this includes an episode of higher salinity. The SSS anomaly maps have large uncertainties but suggest that the highest SSS occurred before the spring of 1998 in the Iceland Basin, and after that, in the Irminger Sea. This is followed by fresher conditions, first in the Labrador and Iceland Basin, reaching recently the Irminger Sea.