CONTINENTS; OCEANS 197 



face water passes through the strait into the smaller body. 

 As a consequence, the deepest water of these arms of the 

 ocean is much warmer than that of the ocean depths out- 

 side. The Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are 

 both much warmer than the ocean. 



218. Currents. Winds blowing constantly in one direc- 

 tion set in motion currents of water, and so in the ocean 

 there are streams of water flowing through the quieter 

 waters on either side, like a river between its banks. If 

 these currents are warm waters from the tropics, they carry 

 and distribute heat to cooler parts of the world. The Japan 

 Current crosses the wide Pacific Ocean toward southern 

 Alaska, where it is bent southward, and after moderating 

 the climate of the states on the Pacific coast, it swings again 

 westward. Logs from Oregon forests have been carried by 

 this return current and have drifted ashore on the Hawaiian 

 Islands. 



Cold currents from the arctic regions make a low average 

 temperature from Labrador to Massachusetts. The warm 

 Gulf Stream, flowing from the Gulf of Mexico northeasterly, 

 carries heat far from the tropics to the northern countries 

 of Europe. From these two causes, there is a great differ- 

 ence between the average temperature of the northeastern 

 part of the United States and that of the same latitudes 

 in Europe. 



Steamers sailing from New York to Europe reach the 

 Gulf Stream about the third day out and passengers then 

 find quite superfluous the heavy clothing which they needed 

 at first. The air over the warm water is very humid, and 

 when icebergs drift into or near the Gulf Stream, dense 

 fogs result from the condensation of the vapor carried by 

 the warm air. When the warm current reaches Great 

 Britain, the westerly winds distribute the heat and mois- 

 ture to Ireland and Scotland and in some degree to England. 

 These lands have not the parched, brown look of much 



