152 A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



Current into the Gulf. The May temperatures of the 

 Gulf are : 



The average temperature of a column of water 700 metres 

 deep is, in the Yucatan Straits, 16-36 C. ; from the Campeche 

 Bank to the Mississippi, 13-01 C.; from Vera Cruz to Gal- 

 veston, 12 C.; while north of Havana it is 16-54 C. 



Outside the West Indian Islands there flows a main branch 

 of the North Equatorial Current namely, the Antilles Current. 

 This takes a westerly and north-westerly direction. Our 

 current charts show, between the Eastern Antilles and the 

 Bermudas, numerous westerly currents of a velocity from 8 

 to 20 sea-miles per day. 



The Southern Equatorial Current is prolonged along the 

 South American coast as the Brazil Current. This is a com- 

 paratively feeble current, and averages .20 sea-miles per day, 

 and rarely exceeds^' 24 miles. The bulk of this warm water 

 flows southward beyond the Tropic of Capricorn. 



The Guinea Current flows along the African coast, between 

 Cape Roxo and the Bight of Biafra, extending southward to 

 the latitude of 3 N. Owing to the paucity of observations, its 

 westerly boundary has not been exactly determined. It can 

 always be traced as far as 23 W., but the statement* that it is 

 met with as far as 53 W. is absurd, and its extreme westerly 

 limits are probably not beyond 40 W. L. 



It has been determined in November to 33 W. L.; in 

 January to 27 W. L. ; in March to 25 W. L. ; and in May to 

 28 W. L. 



The velocity of this stream is on an average n8/sea-miles 



* Jackson, " The Principal Winds and Currents of the Globe," London, 

 1914. 



