Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-13
Old Notions Respecting the Gulf
Stream Modified.
baltimore Sun.

Maury's "Physical Geography of the Sea-
marked out the lines upon which the sciep-
tiic study of the Gulf Stream should pro-
ceed, and Brooke's invention of an efficient
deep sea sounding apparatus first put It in
the power of photographers to investigate
thoroughly the questions raised by Maury'e
wide generaliZations. Since the date when
Maury and Brooke withdrew from the Uni
ted States service there have been many ex-
plorers and inventors whose work has con-
siderably modified the views held by these
photographers respecting the origin, the
course and the limits of the great s'RIvel
in the Sea-" Steamships have supplanted
sailing vessels, aud instruments have
been perfected. Exploration has
been busy. According to statements
made In the New York Nation, the result OF
the work done In the last decade is that
many Of the ideas at present current in re-
gard to the Gulf Stream must be abandoned
The origin Of ocean currents is conced-
ed to be due to 'the reaction of the atmos-
pheric upon the ocean circulationGthat is
to say, they are caused by the winds and
modified by the differences of rotational d.
ameter OF the earth between the equator and
the poles, which tend to defect to the right
any moving body in the northern hemis-
phere." The westward current in the At
lantic north OF the equator, striking the
eastern Icoast OF South America, is de-
hected to the northwest, and skirting that
continent at length reaches the Lesser
Antilles, chain of islands extending north
and south across its course. Part of the
"stream" is DETECTED by the Antilles north
ward and continues on along the north
coast of HayH and Cuba, while another
larger part passes between the Antilles and
South America, thus penetrating into the
Caribbean Sea. Thence It sweeps around
the western extremity of Cuba and passes
out between that island and Florida into
the Atlantic, being reinforced between the
Bahamas and Florida by the DETECTED cur
rent mentioned above. Contrary to the
common notion, the Gulf Stream is not
gulf stream in the sense that It is 8 stream
that makes the circuit of the Gulf of
Mexico. 1t is independent of the gulf cur
rents proper, and touches the Gulf only on
its eastern border. When the stream passes
out through the Straits of Florida It is forty
eight miles wide and where deepest has a
depth OF 439 fathoms. It's velocity Is about
three knots an hour, so that the delivery
here per day is about 436, 600 000, ,0O0. 600
tons Of water at a temperature seldom ex-
ceeding eighty-three degrees in June and
July. AS 1t makes its way northward and
eastward through the Atlantic its width
varies from fifty to one hundred miles, and
it's velocity is about two and half miles per
hour, temperature and velocity being
greater at its axis than in the lateral parts.
It does not flow over a cushion Of cold wa
ter, as is generally believed, but over hard
coral rock; nor is It bounded bv 0cold
walls" and intercolated with 'scold bands. u
The latter are credited to rain SQUALLS pro-
ducing accidental inequalities OF tempera-
ture at the surface. The Gulf Stream prop
erly so called does not reach Norway, nor
does it proceed as far even as Great Britain,
Commander Bartlett, to whom many Of the
late discoveries are due, has exploded also
the old idea that "the Arctic current, as
such, runs beneath the Gulf Stream to the
Gulf itself," f" OF even as far as to the Straits
Of Florida.