On the temperature of the sea around the coasts of Scotland, during the years 1857 and 1858 : and the bearing of the facts on the theory that the mild climate of Great Britain, during winter, is dependent on the Gulf Stream : with a chart of the currents in the north Atlantic : read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 3d Jan. 1859 / by James Stark.

Stark, James, 1814-1883

Date:: 1859

Credit: On the temperature of the sea around the coasts of Scotland, during the years 1857 and 1858 : and the bearing of the facts on the theory that the mild climate of Great Britain, during winter, is dependent on the Gulf Stream : with a chart of the currents in the north Atlantic : read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 3d Jan. 1859 / by James Stark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

13/26 page 11

south of the Bank, must sail over a loop of the Gulf Stream itself. Agarn, no facts known to me trace the heated waters of the Gulf Stream further east than west longitude 30°; and here they are only met with as heated water, spreading- out without almost any perceptible current, or if a current at all can be traced, it is towards the south-east or south, as if the wTaters were turning round and losing themselves in that Great Still Pool, the Sargasso Sea. True it is, that Franklin once met with surface water warmer than the surrounding Ocean, in the Bay of Biscay in 1776; and that General Sabine, in January 1822, passed through warm water when sailing between the parallels of latitude of Cape St Vincent and Cape Contin; but the very rarity with which such occurrences have been recorded, prove them to be the exceptional and not the normal case, and such occurrences will be presently explained. After giving the most serious attention to the facts which have been ascer- tained, the following are my views of the course of the Arctic and Gulf Stream currents:— Two opposing currents meet at the Newfoundland Banks—the Great Arctic Current and the Great Stream. The Great Arctic Current flows southwards, along the east coast of Greenland, and having passed its southern point, meets, and unites with, another broad current, which comes down from Davis’ and Hudson’s Straits. A small branch of this current flows between Newfoundland and the Labrador coast, through the Gulf of St Lawrence. Another portion of this current, deflected to the south-west by the Great Bank of Newfoundland, washes the eastern and southern shores of Newfoundland, and the south-eastern shores of Nova Scotia, and may be traced down the American coast nearly as far as Cape Hatteras. By far the greater portion of this current, however, passes to the east of the Great Bank of Newfoundland, overflowing, however, that Bank. These various portions of the Great Arctic current encounter the Gulf Stream near the southern margin of the Great Bank; and, as the cold waters on that Bank are comparatively at rest, the icebergs ground here, and, on melting, deposit the rocks and debris they have brought down with them from the Arctic regions, and thus continue to enlarge these banks. The Gulf Stream, after encountering the Arctic current, is no longer able to retain its eastward direction; but, in obedience to the law which regulates the meeting of currents from opposite directions, takes a mean course, proportioned to the velocities and breadths of the two currents which meet. The Gulf Stream is, therefore, deflected gradually more and more to the south-east and south; so that its upper margin describes a kind of circle round Corvo and Flores, the most western of the Azores. Here all traces of the Gulf Stream are lost in that im- mense pool or seaweed bed, the Sargasso or Grassy Sea, which exists in the centre of the Atlantic. To carry out Mr Maury’s theory, and that of those who, with him, trace the Gulf Stream continuously to the shores of Britain, it is necessary to prove that, when the two streams meet, the difference in the densities of the wraters is such, that the waters of the Arctic Current, iu consequence of their greater specific gravity, shall sink to the bottom, and allow the Gulf Stream waters to flow over them in conse- quence of their lesser specific gravity. The facts, however, so far as yet investi- gated, are entirely opposed to this view ; and even Mr Maury’s statement of facts

Licence and re-use

Contents