The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-02-11
THE GULF

So much has been written and pub.
lished through the press of the. coun-
try recently in regard to a supposed
change in the position of the gulf
stream, to which change is attributed
the extremely mild winter we are now
experiencing, that the attention of
scientific men has been drawn to the
matter, and some of them are giving
to the press their opinions, based upon
their experience and research. Lieut..
J. E. Pillsbury, of the United States
Navy, who for the past four or five
years has been conducting scientific
examinations of the gulf stream cur
rents submits the following interest
iug summary of his conclusions as to
the supposed variations of the gulf
stream which will doubtless be Rad
with interest:
"I think the gulf stream does
change it's position to a slight extent,
but not in the arbitrary manner or to
the great extent stated by some of the
newspaper writer's of late. The usually
accepted position of the stream along
our coast is that fixed by Prof. Bache,
based upon temperature observations
made by various officers in the navy.
While it is probably a fact that, rs a
rule, a current from the equator is
warm and one from the pole is colder
than the surrounding waters, it is not
always the fact that warmest of flow
ing water is from the South, nor that
the coolest is from the North. The
mere prevalence of warm water does
not necessarily show that a current
exists, nor does a change in the tenn
perature show that there is a change
in current"
Thermometric navigation, Lieut..
Pillsbury thinks, is, to a Ger Tain ex-
tent, fallacious, and submits in sup
port of this conclusion a table of OBJ.
servations of surface temperatures
and directions, taken off Cape Hat
teras, which sho wed continual changes,
and that the temperatures were lowest
when a current was flowing toward
the northeast quadrant, and highest
when the water was coming from the
northward. Anchored a few miles
outside the 100-fathom curve, south
east of Cape Hatteras, he found an
average current setting north by east,
with a t temperature of IS degrees. A
month later at this spot, with a cur.
rent south-southwest, there was a
temperature of 80 degrees. Two
years before with a CURRENT always
flowing toward the northwest, TEN,
peratures varying from 76 degrees to
70 degrees were observed.
He believes that the daily volume
of the stream varies but little. Along
the northeast coast, however, its varia-
ton is not always on the surface, but
is from an unknown cause overrun by
other currents. But its track through
the ocean is absolutely fixed by law
and it's vibration is periodic, although
the limit Of the periodic change may
vary to a trifing amount.
The generally accepted belief that
a wind blowing across the current
changes the position of its axis is,
Lieut.. Pillsbury thinks, erroneous.
Every temporary wind, however, does
transport water, and with it goes it's
heat or cold. The fact of finding gulf
weed within a few miles of Nantucket
lighthouse does not so much prove that
the current is nearer to our shores as
it does that winds have prevailed in
the direction from which it comes.
Anchored to the edge of the Florida
reefs, he says, with a strong wind
blowing directly from the gulf stream
which was only a short distance
away-its clear blue water was driven
by the sea and overcame the cloudy
reef water, but no current accompa-
MED it. In Key West harbor the
water is usually cloudy. A southerly
wind will cause a sea that will carry
the clear water in-shore in spite Of an
ebb tide. The wind shifting to the
opposite quarter will at once alter il
to milky whiteness.
"You will see, therefore, " he writes,
"that the location of currents by
temperature, appearance of the water
or drift on small floating objects leads
only to error. I do not doubt but
that, when we know the positions o1