152 DISCUSSIONS IN CLIMATOLOGY. 



Atlantic must, in order to produce equilibrium, stand 

 at a higher level than at the equator : in other words, 

 the surface of the Atlantic is lowest at the equator, 

 and rises with a gentle slope to well nigh the latitude 

 of England. This curious condition of things is owing 

 to the fact that, in consequence of the enormous 

 quantity of warm water from intertropical regions 

 which is being continually carried by the Gulf Stream 

 into temperate regions, the mean temperature of the 

 Atlantic water, considered from its surface to the 

 bottom, is greater, and the specific gravity less, in 

 temperate regions than at the equator. In consequence 

 of this difference of specific gravity, the surface of the 

 Atlantic at latitude 23°N. must stand 2 feet 3 inches 

 above the level of the equator, and at latitude 38°N. 

 3 feet 3 inches above the equator. In this case it is 

 absolutely impossible that there can be a flow in the 

 Atlantic from the equatorial to the temperate regions 

 resulting from difference of specific gravity. If there 

 is any motion of the water from that cause, it must, 

 in so far as the Atlantic is concerned, be in the opposite 

 direction, viz., from the temperate to the equatorial 

 regions. 



All, or almost all, the heat which the Arctic seas 

 receive from intertropical regions in the form of warm 

 water comes from the Atlantic, and not from the 

 Pacific ; for the amount of warm water entering by 

 Behring Strait must be comparatively small. It there- 

 fore follows from the foregoing considerations that 

 none of that equatorial heat can be conveyed by a 

 circulation resulting from difference of specific gravity 

 produced by difference of temperature. 



It is assumed as a condition in this theory that a 

 submergence of the Arctic land of several hundred feet 

 must have taken place in order to convert that land 



