IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 12$ 



to be futile, since the thermometer in its descent may 

 pass through several submarine currents of different 

 temperature. 



Lastly, an argument has been urged against the 

 warming effects of the Gulf Stream upon our climate 

 which requires to be considered with some attention.. 

 It is urged that the warmth derived from so shallow a 

 current as the Gulf Stream must be, by the time it has 

 reached our shores, could not provide an amount of 

 heat sufficient to affect our climate to any appreciable 

 extent. The mere neighbourhood of this water at a 

 temperature slightly higher than that due to the 

 latitude could not, it is urged, affect the temperature 

 of the inland counties at all. 



This argument is founded on a misapprehension of 

 the beautiful arrangement by which Nature carries heat 

 from one region to distribute it over another. Over 

 the surface of the whole current the process of eva- 

 poration is going on at a greater rate than over the 

 neighbouring seas, because the waters of the current 

 are warmer than those which surround them. The 

 vapour thus rising above the Gulf Stream is presently 

 wafted by the south-westerly winds to our shores and 

 over our whole land. But as it thus reaches a region 

 of comparative cold, the vapour is condensed that is, 

 turned into fog, or mist, or cloud, according to circum- 

 stances. It is during this change that it gives out the 

 heat it has brought with it from the Gulf Stream. 

 For precisely as the evaporation of water is a process 



