OCEAN CURRENTS 151 



The Southern Equatorial Current exhibits one remarkable 

 peculiarity. The surface waters in the equatorial region 

 between 10 and 25 W. L. are appreciably (3 to 4 C.) colder 

 in August than in February and May, and colder than the air 

 above. To the south the water temperature is higher, so that 

 a cold zone exists here on the Equator. This cold-water island 

 is plainly marked on the English surface-temperature charts 

 for August. 



The prolongation of the chief branch of the Northern 

 Equatorial Current together with the Guayana Current is 

 known as the Caribbean Current. Rennell described this drift 

 as, " not a stream, but a sea in motion." Our current charts 

 give a drift of 24 to 72 sea-miles per day near the continental 

 coast. This is the current that Columbus encountered off the 

 coast of Honduras on his fourth voyage (1502), and found so 

 disagreeable. This Caribbean Current enters the Gulf of 

 Mexico through the Yucatan Channel between Yucatan and 

 Cuba. The Yucatan Channel is only 100 miles across from 

 Cape San Antonio to Cape Catoche that is, only one-seventh 

 of the diameter of the current in the Caribbean Sea itself. As 

 a result of this construction the velocity of the current is 

 considerably increased. 



The warm Caribbean Current, after entering the Gulf of 

 Mexico, runs due east and between Florida and Cuba, and 

 then between Florida and the Bahama Islands out into the 

 Atlantic Ocean. The current is now known as the Florida 

 Stream or Gulf Stream. The latter name was given under a 

 misapprehension, since the current does not enter the Gulf of 

 Mexico proper. In the older English charts a branch of the 

 Caribbean Current is shown running clockwise round the Gulf 

 of Mexico through the Gulf of Campeachy past Vera Cruz and 

 Tampico. As a matter of fact, west of the Mississippi delta the 

 current runs in exactly the opposite direction, and is, in fact, 

 the deltaic water deflected to the west by the rotation of the 

 earth. The surface temperatures of the Gulf water prove 

 conclusively that there is no marked influx of the Caribbean 



