Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We May Also Be Led To Think That These Tendencies
Diminish To A Certain Point The Speed Of The Tropical
Current, in
the same manner as they change the direction of the polar current,
which in July and August, is
Regularly perceived during the melting
of the ice, on the parallel of the bank of Newfoundland, and
farther north. Very old nautical observations, which I have had
occasion to confirm by comparing the longitude given by the
chronometer with that which the pilots obtained by their reckoning,
are, however, contrary to these theoretical ideas. In both
hemispheres, the polar currents, when they are perceived, decline a
little to the east; and it would seem that the cause of this
phenomenon should be sought in the constancy of the westerly winds
which prevail in the high latitudes. Besides, the particles of
water do not move with the same rapidity as the particles of air;
and the currents of the ocean, which we consider as most rapid,
have only a swiftness of eight or nine feet a second; it is
consequently very probable, that the water, in passing through
different parallels, gradually acquires a velocity correspondent to
those parallels, and that the rotation of the earth does not change
the direction of the currents.
The variable pressure on the surface of the sea, caused by the
changes in the weight of the air, is another cause of motion which
deserves particular attention. It is well known, that the
barometric variations do not in general take place at the same
moment in two distant points, which are on the same level. If in
one of these points the barometer stands a few lines lower than in
the other, the water will rise where it finds the least pressure of
air, and this local intumescence will continue, till, from the
effect of the wind, the equilibrium of the air is restored. M.
Vaucher thinks that the tides in the lake of Geneva, known by the
name of the seiches, arise from the same cause. We know not whether
it be the same, when the movement of progression, which must not be
confounded with the oscillation of the waves, is the effect of an
external impulse. M. de Fleurieu, in his narrative of the voyage of
the Isis, cites several facts, which render it probable that the
sea is not so still at the bottom as naturalists generally suppose.
Without entering here into a discussion of this question, we shall
only observe that, if the external impulse is constant in its
action, like that of the trade-winds, the friction of the particles
of water on each other must necessarily propagate the motion of the
surface of the ocean even to the lower strata; and in fact this
propagation in the Gulf-stream has long been admitted by
navigators, who think they discover the effects in the great depth
of the sea wherever it is traversed by the current of Florida, even
amidst the sand-banks which surround the northern coasts of the
United States. This immense river of hot waters, after a course of
fifty days, from the 24th to the 45th degree of latitude, or 450
leagues, does not lose, amidst the rigours of winter in the
temperate zone, more than 3 or 4 degrees of the temperature it had
under the tropics. The greatness of the mass, and the small
conductibility of water for heat, prevent a more speedy
refrigeration. If, therefore, the Gulf-stream has dug a channel at
the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, and if its waters are in motion
to considerable depths, they must also in their inferior strata
keep up a lower temperature than that observed in the same
parallel, in a part of the sea which has neither currents nor deep
shoals. These questions can be cleared up only by direct
experiments, made by thermometrical soundings.
Sir Erasmus Gower remarks, that, in the passage from England to the
Canary islands, the current, which carries vessels towards the
south-east, begins at the 39th degree of latitude. During our
voyage from Corunna to the coast of South America, the effect of
this motion of the waters was perceived farther north. From the
37th to the 30th degree, the deviation was very unequal; the daily
average effect was 12 miles, that is, our sloop drove towards the
east 75 miles in six days. In crossing the parallel of the straits
of Gibraltar, at a distance of 140 leagues, we had occasion to
observe, that in those latitudes the maximum of the rapidity does
not correspond with the mouth of the straits, but with a more
northerly point, which lies on the prolongation of a line passing
through the strait and Cape St. Vincent. This line is parallel to
the direction which the waters follow from the Azores to Cape
Cantin. We should moreover observe (and this fact is not
uninteresting to those who examine the nature of fluids), that in
this part of the retrograde current, on a breadth of 120 or 140
leagues, the whole mass of water has not the same rapidity, nor
does it follow precisely the same direction. When the sea is
perfectly calm, there appears at the surface narrow stripes, like
small rivulets, in which the waters run with a murmur very sensible
to the ear of an experienced pilot. On the 13th of June, in 34
degrees 36 minutes north latitude, we found ourselves in the midst
of a great number of these beds of currents. We took their
direction with the compass, and some ran north-east, others
east-north-east, though the general movement of the ocean,
indicated by comparing the reckoning with the chronometrical
longitude, continued to be south-east. It is very common to see a
mass of motionless waters crossed by threads of water, which run in
different directions, and we may daily observe this phenomenon on
the surface of lakes; but it is much less frequent to find partial
movements, impressed by local causes on small portions of waters in
the midst of an oceanic river, which occupies an immense space, and
which moves, though slowly, in a constant direction.
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