196 A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



When this easterly current of the South Pacific reaches the 

 American coast in about 45 S. Lat. it splits into two branches, 

 one of which, running south round Cape Horn, is the Cape 

 Horn Current, which runs south, south-east, east, and then 

 east-north-east, and finally is continued as the Falkland 

 Current in the Atlantic. 



The second branch runs north as the Peruvian or 

 Humboldt Current. This is a cold current, and is clearly 

 due to the deflection of the prevailing easterly drift by the 

 land. It is a feeble current, and can be reversed by the 

 northerly winds. The prevailing winds here, however, are 

 from the south. In 5 S. Lat. it leaves the coast and flows 

 north-west into the South Equatorial Current. 



From Bering Sea, on the west side, a cold current runs 

 down past Kamtchatka and the Kuriles to Japan. This is the 

 Oya Siwo Current ; off the west of Japan the coastal water is 

 only 2 or 3 less than the Kuro Siwo, and its colour pale 

 (according to some observers) or dark (according to others) 

 green. 



Cold water is only met with on the east side, north from 

 37 or 38 N. Lat., where in February, near the land, sailing- 

 ships in an hour notice a drop in the water temperature from 

 1 6 to 6 C. The Oya Siwo comes from the north-east. 



Indian Ocean. 



The Indian Ocean currents differ from those of the two 

 other oceans in that they change with the seasons the north- 

 east and south-west monsoons. At least two charts are 

 necessary for the delineation of these currents ; better still 

 are the monthly charts published by the British Admiralty. 



The currents in the northern section of the Indian Ocean 

 i.e., in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal run with the 

 prevailing winds. There is a general westerly drift, corre- 

 sponding to the North Equatorial Current of the Atlantic. 

 This runs from the Andamans to the Somali coast in winter. 

 There is also a South Equatorial Current, running westerly 



