i7o A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



1839; as soon as the temperature sank from 19-4 to 13-9 the 

 current ran in a northerly direction. 



Temperatures over the Patagonian Bank are slightly 

 warmer near the coast, but this coastal water is still from 3 to 

 4 colder, even in the southern summer, than the waters of the 

 Brazil Current. The increase here is doubtless due to the sun's 

 rays, which are powerful in this dry, hot climate, and this is 



65 



60 



4SW.L. 



4-5 



FIG. 32. CURRENTS OF THE SOUTH-WEST ATLANTIC. (KRUMMEL.) 



borne out by the fact that the higher temperatures are purely 

 superficial. 



Drift bodies also support the evidence in favour of the 

 Falkland Current. Large masses of Laminaria and Macro- 

 cystis are met with off the La Plata estuary drifting north- 

 north-east. Darwin found this seaweed only rarely on the 

 Patagonian coast as far as 43 S. Lat., and it only flourishes 

 in abundance in the Straits of Magellan and on the Falkland 

 Islands. Undoubtedly that met with off La Plata has drifted 



