230 



THE SEAS 



it has lost a certain amount of its speed and has widened 

 out considerably. At the same time, coming into less 

 heated climes, it has cooled down to a certain extent. 



Just near the Labrador coast however a potent force 

 comes into play. Here are vast masses of drifting ice 

 floating down from polar seas on the cold Labrador currents. 

 These ice floes meet the warmer water and cool it. Cooled 

 water is heavier than warm water and must therefore 

 sink, and as it sinks it is replaced by more warm water 

 near the surface (Fig. 47). This process continues while 

 the ice is melting, so that it, so to speak, attracts the warm 

 waters to it, asking for destruction. The mass of all the 



Fig. 47. — Diagram showing the movements of the 

 surrounding water caused by melting ice. 



ice in this region thus exerts a considerable power and 

 deflects a part of the Gulf Stream which spHts off from the 

 east-going current and moves up north over the Newfound- 

 land Bank and on to the Norwegian Sea. 



The remaining east-going stream continues on across the 

 Atlantic ; part, owing to the earth's rotation, still bears 

 to the right until eventually it returns to its place of origin 

 in equatorial waters, thus completing a circle. The 

 remainder, sucked North to replace water moving South 

 from polar regions and aided by prevalent south-westerly 

 winds, moves on towards the British coasts as the North 



