Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-02-12
ROB GULF STREAM
OF AN OLD LAUREL
II Is Wind, Not Water. That
Gives England a Mild
Climate.
WARM AIR FROM SOUTH
Moisture Carried From Trop-
les. Released in the North,
Is Lost.
WARM AIR FROM SOUTH

10 LONDON. Feb. ll.-One can never
be sure how long acquired knowl-
:. edge is going TO hold good There
must be thousands of persons in
Philadelphia who were taught in
school. and SIN believe tina, the
reason fer moderate climate in Eng
land is because the Gulf Stream
:, washes its shores and transforms the
conditions OF country in the same
latitude with Labrador TO those ex-
perienced in Philadelphia.
But it develops, according 10 emf
: nent authority. that this theory is ali
wrong, and that our teachers who
told US so. did no; know wha, they
were talking about. Sir Richard
Gregory At a recen; meeting OF the
Science Masters Association in Lon
: don explained very carefully. even
To his srown-up audience. that it
was the wind and not water that
made England habitable
THE Gult Stream" he explained,
j. is only an incidental part OF the gen
eral circulation OF the waters Of the
North Atlantic. and has no more to
do with causing this circulation than
the provcTbial ily had in moving the
wheel on which IL rested /; cannot
be distinguished east OF Newfound-
! land and has been proved 10 lose it
self IN the Atlantic long before i,
reaches our shores. /; is. therefore.
quite Ihsory TO suppose that the
Gui. Stream. as such. has ANY in:iu-
eHce upon British climate.
: The relatively warm water which
flows Dortheastward from the region
-sonih al tfe Grea, Bank OF New
i"unoland is independent Of the GuIt
stream. and is now generally called
~
turo7ean Current This is the cur
rent which washes the coast Of I'm
rope and fills the seas and channels
adjacent TO our islands
Warm WInds From tho Sou,b
1T IS not. however. merely j qucs-
ZION OF whether we call the ocean
waters which come to our ISLANDS
from The southwest the Gulf Stream.
euh stream Drift or European Cur
rent The main point Is that our
climatic advantages must not be as
cripeu so much TO warm water AZ 10
wind. The mild winters OF our
western coasts arc not due TO tho
. heating OF air by contact with n
surface OF warm water brought ny
current from warmer regions, hut
1he iact that the air itself has com.
from these warmer regions, and Is
charged with abundant moisture.
which sets free vast quantities OF
neat when the vapor is condensed in
form OF rain
The effective cause Of oceanic cir
culation is wind action. The trad.
winds give rise to the great cQua-
-loTial currents and tend TO heap up
ocean waters on the eastern sides OF
continental masses. The Gulf Stream
IS current by which some Of this
,.fea ped-up water in the Atlantic es-
=uapes northward. but Is really moth
,ing but rin OF warm water com
pared with the depth Of the ocean
below IL.
:: There is a prevailing drift OF the
atmosphere eastward and north
eastward over the North Atlantic,
-and this causes the entire surfac.
OF the ocean north OF the region OF
the trade winds 10 have n genera!
movement toward the northeast. The
aerial currents which produce this
movement also distribute over
Europe the heat they have derived
from lower latitudcs.
Rniny Districts Archie Warmest.
THE predominant winds in these
islands are southwest and west, and
these are also the ra!niest. In win
ter the rainiest districts are gener-
ally the warmest. so that the air
grows warmer from east 10 west
'HNa '''"''ati''S ''at inc cnicI source
OF heat Is then the relatively warm
WIND blowing from the Atlantic.
IL the temperature OF our islands
depended upon latitude alone ana 10
mild Hapor-bcar!ng winds reached
us from the Atlantic. We should prob
ably be exposed TO cold as severe ns
that experienced IN Labrador, where
the temperature in winter often falls
10 80 or 40 degrees below zero. As
IL Is. London has the same mean av-
erage empcrature-ahuut 81 degrees
las Philadciphia; which Is $50 miles
nearer the Equator. and Edinburgh
on the average is warmer than Hal
1ax' which Is 700 miles TO the south
ward.
The Gulf Stream fnllacy has been
exposed over and over again. Yer
HlllA lElili