The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-06-08

evaporation, Thus, in the zone of the
trade-winds, where there is nearly con-
slant sunshine, with little rain and
comparatively dry winds, the per-
centage of salt is very high while it is
very low in the equatorial regions and
the higher temperate attitudes Land
| locked and bordering seas are less
salty at the surface than the oceans
| because of the fresh waters poured in
to them by tributary streams. The
| freshening is greater where the coast
line is very irregular, and winds and
currents further complicate the mat
ter. Says this investigator:
"The Red Sea is saltier at the sur
face than any of the oceans, but in
this instance there are no water-basins
to be reckoned with, since the climate
is so dry that no permanent rivers eX-
! list. The salt contents can be lessened
only by a surface flow from the Indian
Ocean, and are therefore greatest at
the northern end, in the Cuffs of Suez
and Akaba.
"The Mediterranean Sea is also salt
Ter at the surface than the oceans; it
has tributaries, indeed, but on the one
hand their surface is small in proper
ton to that of the sea, and the largest
one, the Nile, has a very low percent
age of run-off to precipitation, under
| five per cent. The dilute surface cur
rent from the Black Sea, however, pre-
vents the salt contents becoming as
large as those of the Red Sea-"
Professor Woeikow finds most inter-
esting of all the question why the At
INDEPENDENTLY the North Atlantic
is saltier than the Indian and Pacific,
a fact the more remarkable because it
receives the waters of the mightiest
rivers in the world. Into it are poured
the floods of the Mississippi and the
st. Lawrence, the Kongo, the Amazon,
the La Plata and the Orinoco as well
as the rivers of Europe. Moreover, the
influence of the Arctic Ocean, which
modern geographers regard as a tribu.
tary sea of the Atlantic, tends to
sweeten its waters partly through the
| southwark flow of its dilute surface
waters and partly by the melting Of
the great icebergs which it sends
down to lower ATTITUDES. It is esti-
mated that the Arctic annually gives
to the Atlantic about 10000 cubic kilo-
meters Of ice, and since this contains
only l per cent of salt, instead of the
normal ocean content of 3.5 per cent,
its freshening influence is consider
able The other oceans have no such
ice contribution, and yet their surface
salt content is smaller. What is the
explanation of this apparently anomal-
GUS fact? Professor Woeikow finds it
in the physical geography of the sur
rounding land, and shows its intimate
relation to the vital questions of rain
fall and food supply in Europe and
America. He bids us look at the map
of the world and says:
Nowhere do we see long, high
mountain chains in the vicinity of the
Atlantic coast; where mountain chains
are present, as the Appalachians and
the Brazilian mountains, they are not
high. America is very open to the in
fluence of the Atlantic, its high noun
tains being mostly in the west; the
high mountains of Eurasia are distant
from the Atlantic. Europe, Northern
Asia, and part of Central Asia are
not cut off from the Atlantic by noun
tain chains and hence are open to its
influences.
I'm the United States the influence
of the Appalachians is not great, be-
cause the Gulf of Mexico lies south
west of them. Moist west-southwest
winds prevail throughout the year be-
tween the Mississippi and the APP
Ipalachians, and in the summer a damp
laden monsoon is drawn into the in
terror, bringing copious rains even far
west of the Mississippi This moisture
Is drawn ultimately from the Atlantic.
In the eastern part of the United
States relatively dry winds prevail in
the Interior but the very frequent cy-
clones with south to southwest winds
bring plentiful precipitation. The
east Of the United States, from about
95 degrees west longitude, is the most
extensive generally fiat region in the
middle ATTITUDES where there is an an
nual precipitation of more than one
meter 1892 inches), The next largest
is in eastern Asia, but is less level.
All other such regions are narrower
coast-zones between the ocean and
mountains, as in Norway, Great Brit
ain, North and South America, New