New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-09-14
SURFACE DRIFT ~ THE OCEAN.
THE LESSONS TAUGHT BY HUNDREDS OF
FLOATING BOTTLES
| James Page. OF the Photographic ONCE. In The
National Geographic Mage zine.

H''AA'+Np iSCA LIS
James Page. Of the Photographic ONCE. In The
National Geographic Magazine.
Among the various Investigations carried on by
the United States Hydr9,graphic ONCE there is
one which has always excited greater or less poPu-
within the power OF any one who ia at sea and who
Curiosity and the leisure time to crafty it. to con-
ed Of research is the Investigation Of the surface
currents Of the sea by means of the knowledge OBJ
i is famafy Known the drift Of bottle papers
The apparatus required is not extensive The date.
given time are written upon u piece of paper: this
Character is nearest TO hand: the bottle is then
corked and sealed and cast into the sea. After a
bottles find their way to the coasts of the adjacent
them ultimately reach the United States Hydro
Several hundred of these papers find their way
back every year the great majority of those which
0cea and charts have from year to YEAR appeared
showing the drift OF bottles in that ocean. These
in the temperate attitudes Of both the North and
the south Aanc and an equally any STEADY wes'ery
rent system Of either ocean thus consisting of a
OF the circulation being anti-cyclonic in either
o. WI" b the s m 3T in the
case OF the prevailing winds.
bottles In the Pacific again show, precisely as in
the case Of the At,antic QceaH 1hat the genera
tudes, westward in the lower At least this Is SO
dence Of the eastward motion of the extratropcal
! lacking. None of the drifts reveal the
existence Of the equatorial counter-current flowing
| eastward between the westward moving equatorial
currents of the southern and northern hemi-
is a miles a day of the westerly drift ten miles
! a dav or more than twice great. which Is again
| in accordance with the results for the Atlantic
PERFECTLY steady wind acting continuously on
| the surface of the VIII, through frcuon. SlsS
! same direction as the wind itself. " the latter
| continues for a sufficient length of time the I'm
nnse first felt only at the surface, Will gradually
communicate itself downward. owing to the Wis
cosi,v OF the water. and the lower strata to sue
cessyeIv greater and greater depth VIII thus par
take of the movement until 1t Is finally shared by
tbn whole mass the velocity of the motion dimin-
| ishInr as the depth increases. perfectly
steady winds, however, do not exist even IN the
| region Of the trades = A., - 49,.
W. ha We therefore. in the body or the sea, TWO
distinct sets Of currents; first. those at the I'M
! nediate surface, which move practlcaIy az tne
nhadiapce of the surface winds: sometimes In one
| direction sometimes in another; second those OF
Tho lower strata, which are constant III utrecton
ard JaIocity and represent the aggregate eHect OK
The winds that blown for ages past the sea IN
III resnect furnishing close analogy 10 the az
1nosnhere the motion OF the lower strata OF when
| ie Constantly disturbed. while that OF the hlgher
streta as shown by the motion OF the cirrus
! clouds is comparatively uniform - r .o,.a
~ hat the uniform paths pursued by these 9TH
ino hottIes to some extent represent ana IL is inc
aU7aence contained in them that should De sl9oiSu
q, Transformations dealing with the currents OF Ine
ocean in their entirety. rather than the eVIuetce
ohtoirad from any given set OF current IneasuIe-
| NEVIS made at or near the surface ana TOT Some
| given point