176 FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



ocean " gradually dies away and is finally lost about latitude 

 45° opposite the Newfoundland banks, and it is generally 

 considered that the surface drift which continues its influence 

 farther to the north and east is due to the anti-trade south- 

 west winds. 



The Labrador cold current passes down south inside the 

 Gulf Stream along the New England coasts to CaroHna, 

 forming a " cold wall " which dips under the Gulf Stream as 

 it issues from the Strait of Florida. This " cold wall " 

 of the oceanographers, as seen, for example, near the New- 

 foundland banks, is a remarkable phenomenon. The bottom 

 water over the banks at the latitude of Paris is as cold as 

 in polar seas (say, — 1*5° C), while outside the banks the 

 warm salt Gulf Stream water has a temperature of over 

 16° C. Where the waters adjoin the curves of temperature 

 and salinity are closely placed and run at a high angle. 



What is left of the Gulf Stream when it reaches mid- 

 Atlantic is no longer a continuous body of water, but is 

 composed of separate bands and swirls, expanding fan-like 

 and changing from time to time. Nansen and Helland- 

 Hansen found great variations from year to year in the 

 temperature of what they recognize as Gulf Stream water 

 in the Norwegian Sea, and these cause variations in the 

 temperature of the air, in the year's harvest, in the growth 

 of trees, and in the presence of shoals of fishes on the 

 Norwegian coast. There is even said to be a correspondence 

 from year to year between the temperature of the sea in 

 February and the flowering of the Coltsfoot {Tussilago 

 farfara) in April. 



Some hydrographers state that no GuK Stream water 

 reaches Europe ; that in March it attains the Azores at 

 farthest, and in November nearly to Spain, but always 

 curves round to the south to surround the Sargasso Sea; 

 and that north of the true GuK Stream the " Atlantic 

 Drift " arises, due in part no doubt to prevalent south-west 

 winds, and so brings warmer and denser water to our seas 



