The Nevada journal., 1856-05-09

A'r OENSr of lHE OuLF OTREAN ON
CLIMATES Lieutenant Maury, in hi.
physical Geography of Ethe Sea- de-
votes d chapter to the discussion of this
interesting subject, and clearly explains
the reasons why the climate of Great
Britain, Western Europe and the North
Atlantic Ocean is so much more genial
than that of the same latitudes upon the
American continent. He says that the
Gulf Stream is nothing more than the
conducting pipe of an immense heating
apparatus, Of which the torrid zone is the
furnace and the Mexican Gulf and Carib-
bean Sea are tie caldrons. The maxi
mum temperature Of the waters in the Ca
ribien Sea and Gulf of Mexico in ninety
degrees: That Of the Gulf Stream when
it leaves the Gulf is eighty-six, or about
nine degrees above that of the ocean in
the same latitude ten degrees, it loses but
two degrees of temperature, aid after hav-
ing run three thousand miles towards the
north, it still preserves, even in winter,
the heat of summer. With this temper
ature it crosses the fortieth degree of
north latitude, and then, overfowing its
liquid banks, spreads itself out for thou
sands OF square leagues over the cold wa
ters around, and covers the ocean with a
mantle of warmth Moving more slowly,
but dispensing its genial influences more
freely, it finally reaches the British Isl
ands, and dividing, one part goes into the
polar basin of Spitzberg en-, and the other
enters the Bay of Biscay, each with a
warmth consid erably above the ocean
temperature.
Such an immense So1dme Of heated wa
ter must inevitably carry with it beyond
the seas a mild and moist climate. Every
west wind that blows across the Stream.
on its way to Europe, carries with it a
part of its heat to temper there the North
ern winds of winter. It is the influences
of this stream upoti climate, that makes
Erin the emerald island of the sea, and
clothes the shores of Albion in evergreen
robes. The gulf stream carries drift wood
from the West Indies to the Orkney ISL
and its genial influence among those ISL
ands, at the latitude of sixty degrees, is
said to such that the ponds in them are
seldom frozen in winter. Liverpool, which
is two degrees north Of the harbor of St.
Johns, III Newfoundland, is comparative
ly warm and pleasant. Lieutenant Maui
ry estimates that if the temperature and
velocity of the gulf stream are the same at
a depth Of two hundred fathoms, as they
are at the surface, the quantity Of heat
discharged over the Atlantic, from its wa
ters, in a winters day, would be sufficient
to raise the whole column of atmosphere
that rests upon France and the British
Islands, from the freezing point to sum-
mer heat.
But the beneficial effects of the Gulf
Stream are not confined to the diffusion
of warmth in those parts of the surface of
the earth which it traverses; an all-wise
Providence has made it vehicle for con-
veying away the surplus heat of Central
America and Mexico, which would other
wise make the lowlands of those countries
the hottest and perhaps the most pestilen-
tial regions in the world. The heated wa
ters of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mex
leo are carried off by the Gulf Stream,
and their place supplied by a constant
flow of cooler water from the ocean depths.
A calculation based upon the difference
in the temperatures of the waters which
enter the Gulf of Mexico and those which
fow from it in the Gulf Stream, shows that
the quantities of specific heat daily ear
ried off by this huge river, and discharged
over the Atlantic, is sufficient to raise
mountains of iron from zero to tie melting
point, and to keep in flow from them a
molten stream of metal, greater in volume
than the waters discharged from the mouth
of the Mississippi river. Who can calcu-
late the benign inhuerce Of this wonder
full current upon the climate of the South'
Lieutenant Maury says that the Gulf
Stream is also the great weather breeder
of the North Atlantic ocean. The most
furious gales sweep along it, and doubt
less the fogs of Newfoundland, which en-
danger navigation in winter, owe their
existence to the presence of its volumes Of
warm water. Inquiries which were set
on foot some years ago by the British Ad-
miralty as to the cause of disastrous storms
in certain parts of the Atlantic, resulted
in the conclusion that they are occasioned
by the difference between the temperature
of the Gulf Stream and that of the neigh
boring regions. The course of many
gales has been traced from the place of
their origin directly to the Gulf Stream.
They have been known to take their rise
upon the coast Of Africa as far down as
the parallel of ten or fifteen degrees north
latitude, and crossing the ocean to the
Gulf Stream, turn about, and travelling
along its course, recross the Atlantic, and
so reach the shores of Europe. The tracks
of storms have been traced out and fol-
lowed in this way for week or ten days,
and their paths are marked by shipwreck
and disaster. Philosophers have never
been able to satisfactorily explain why
these storms almost always travel towards
the Gulf Stream, and then joining it,
sweep along its current. Even Maury at
tennis to offer no solution of the mystery.