Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1855-07-21
Effects of Wind and Water on Climates


In short article, few weeks since, We
described the particular influence of the Gull
Stream" upon the climate of Western Europe
and presented the opinion entertained by some
that the waters of the Amazon River were the
cause of this wonderful current In Lieut.
Murray's new volume, "The Physical Geogra
ply of the Sea-" we find this question discussed
with rare ability, and with profound knowledge
OF the subject He compares the Gulf Stream
to water heating apparatus for buildings
The warm waters" he says, (which are con.
fined in the Gulf of Mexico is such a heating
apparatus for Great Britain, the North
Atlantic and Western Europe" Instead of
attributing this stream to the waters of the
Amazon, he says, " the furnace is the torrid
zone the Mexican Gulf and the Caribbean
Sea are the Chauldrons the Gulf Stream is
the conducting pipe, and its heat is taken up
by the genial west winds, and dispersed through
out Britain and the west of Europe" In
another place he says, " it is the influence of
this stream upon climate that makes the
Emerald ISle and clothes the shore of Albion
in evergreen robes while in the same latitude
on this side the coasts of Labradore are fast
bound in fetters of ice" In an article in the
American Journal of Science, Vol As, Mr..
Redfeld says, i" in June 1881, the harbor of
st. Johns Newfoundland, was clothed with ice ::
yet whoever heard of the port of Liverpool
20 degrees further north being closed with ice
even in the dead of winter"
1t is indeed peculiar arrangement of Him
who rules the winds and the waves, that the
temperate climates of different countries in
Europe are dependent on a hot water sea basin
situated near the American continent, and that
this hot water should pass by large tracks of
countries on this side of the Atlantic, leaving
bound in icy fetters, and dispense its favors to
nations Oh the other side of the ocean But
SO 1t is, and requires the winds as well as the
waters to distribute those genial favors to
western Europe. During the past winter this
was displayed in remarkable manner For
about four weeks easterly winds had prevailed
in Great Britain and Ireland during which
period the warmth of the Gulf Stream was
prevented from being waited to those coasts
The result was, that the most intense cold
within the memory of man was experienced
there ice formed in large quantities on the
sea coast, and, as worlds wonder, the nayi-
cation of the rivers Thames and Mersey was
greatly obstructed, and the port of Liverpool
almost ice bound for some days. In ireland
tLC CuCClS vi llllS Scfclc COlCl WIS SUCH, llldl
thousands upon thousands of small birds
larks thruShes, &c.,-which do not migrate,
were found dead in the fields and on the high
ways. In Scotland the effects of this severe
cold were more wonderful still. Hugh Miller
that eminent geologist and keen observer
in the Edinburgh Witness, says, the present
intense frost-coincdent at new moon with a
stream tide-has killed many of the littoral
shell-fish around our shores, and they now lie
by thousands and tens of thousands along the
beach. On the beach below Portohelo, 'and
for at least mile on the western side of the
town, they are chiefly of two Species iSolen
Satlqu0, or the edible sprout-fsh or razor-fish
and Dl0ctra Stultorum, or the fools cookie,
both of them mouses which burrow in the
sands above the low water line of stream tides
The sprout fish, when first thrown ashore were
carried away by pail and basketfull by the
poorer people and yet of their shells enough
remain in the space of half mile to load
several carts but the fishes themselves,
devoured by myrads of birds, chiefly gulls, have
already disappeared. 1t is probable that both
species will be less common on our coasts than
heretofore, for years to come and their whole
sale destruction by frost few degrees more
intense than is common in our climate, strikingly
shows how simply, by slight changes of climate,
induced by physical causes, whole races of
animals may become extinct. 1t exemplfes,
too, how destruction may fall upon insulated
species, while from some popularity of habit,
or some hardness of constitution, their con-
geners escape"
Had the genial west instead of the dry east
winds, constantly prevailed in England during
the last winter the atmospher of that country
would have been moist and warm as usual, and
no such severe frosts as that described, would
have been experienced. From these new facts,
we can form some new and more correct ideas
of the effects of the winds and waters upon
climates and how they effect the destiny and
welfare of nations, and living creatures, on
the land and in the sea- Scientific American.