THE SEA 9 



it is 75 miles wide and flows at about three miles 

 an hour, while to the south of the Grand Banks of 

 Newfoundland its rate is only one and a half miles 

 per hour. Although it changes in depth and width 

 and speed, it preserves its individuality for more 

 than 3000 miles. New York, on the other hand, 

 is cooled by the Labrador Cold Current, which flows 

 southward inside the Gulf Stream along the New 

 England coast to the Carolinas, and dips under the 

 Gulf Stream as it emerges from the Straits of 

 Florida. 



Meteorologists sometimes speculate as to what 

 would take place in the climate of the eastern part 

 of the United States, if the Labrador Cold Current 

 were diverted from its course. Doubtless the Gulf 

 Stream would then swing in closer along our coast, 

 and make the winters in the Eastern States almost 

 as warm as those of Florida. 



Throughout the oceans, the water at or near the 

 surface is generally warmer than that below. In the 

 tropics, the temperature of the surface water may be 

 80° F. or over, and at the bottom as low as 28° F. 

 Usually the temperature decreases from the surface 

 to the bottom. Murray reported the following mean 

 temperatures for the whole ocean as found on the 

 ChaRenger expedition : 



100 fathoms 60.7° F. 1000 fathoms 36.5° F. 



200 " 50.1° F. 1500 " 35.3° F. 



500 " 40.1° F. 2200 " 35.2° F. 



The bottom temperatures are below 30° F. in the 

 polar seas. In the Antarctic and Indian oceans and 

 parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the bottom 



