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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The Pilot May Judge, With Some
Certainty, Of The Proximity Of His Approach To New York,
Philadelphia, Or Charlestown When
He reaches the edge of the
stream; for the elevated temperature of the waters, their saltness,
indigo-blue colour, and
The shoals of seaweed which cover their
surface, as well as the heat of the surrounding atmosphere, all
indicate the Gulf-stream. Its rapidity diminishes towards the
north, at the same time that its breadth increases and the waters
become cool. Between Cayo Biscaino and the bank of Bahama the
breadth is only 15 leagues, whilst in the latitude of 28 1/2
degrees, it is 17, and in the parallel of Charlestown, opposite
Cape Henlopen, from 40 to 50 leagues. The rapidity of the current
is from three to five miles an hour where the stream is narrowest,
and is only one mile as it advances towards the north. The waters
of the Mexican Gulf; forcibly drawn to north-east, preserve their
warm temperature to such a point, that in 40 and 41 degrees of
latitude I found them at 22.5 degrees (18 degrees R.) when, out of
the current, the heat of the ocean at its surface was scarcely 17.5
degrees (14 degrees R.). In the parallel of New York and Oporto,
the temperature of the Gulf-stream is consequently equal to that of
the seas of the tropics in the 18th degree of latitude, as, for
instance, in the parallel of Porto Rico and the islands of Cape
Verd.
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