630 



Dr. W. B. Carpenter on the 



[June 13, 



" the Water follows that of the Air with remarkable precision, whether on 

 " the ascending or descending scale. The observations were made three 

 " times daily, and they show a range throughout the year of from 29° 

 " to 78°. This latter temperature was nearly as high as the highest tem- 

 " perature of the Air on that day. The lowest temperature of the Air 

 " was 4°, which brought the water down to freezing, and some ice was 

 "formed. The average temperatures for nine consecutive days in July 

 "were — Air 74°, Water 71°; for a corresponding period in February, 

 "Air 32°, Water 31°." The following observations, again, are cited by 

 Dr. Hayes to prove that comparatively warm water does not impart 

 excess of warmth to the Air: — "At midnight, Feb. 22, 1869, the Pa- 

 "cific Mail-steamer 'Alaska,' on her way to Aspinwall, was 148 miles 

 "to the north of the Gulf-stream ; the temperature of the Air at the 

 " time was 22°, and of the Water 39°, the ship steering south. At 2 h 

 "50 m p.M., the Air was 39°, the Water 46°, which is the general Winter 

 " temperature of the Ocean-water in that Latitude on the U.S. coast. At 

 tt 2 h 54^ the 'Alaska ' having entered the Stream, the Air was 40°, the Water 

 " 65°. Afterwards the Water rose to 70°, but the Air remained at 40° until 

 " the stream was crossed : then the Air rose to 44°, while the Water sank 

 " to 62°." — Dr. Hayes further cites, from a paper by Dr. Stork in the 

 ' Nautical Magazine ' for 1859, a series of observations which tend to prove 

 that on the coast of Scotland the temperature of the Water of the Atlantic 

 is regulated by that of the Air, rising and falling after it ; so that the 

 diurnal, monthly, and annual variations of the two show a close parallel, 

 except that the fluctuations in the temperature of the Air are in advance of 

 those of the temperature of the Sea. 



153. This view, however, is in opposition to the results of the observa- 

 tions which have now been carried on by the Scottish Meteorological So- 

 ciety through a lengthened term of years*. For they show that on the 

 West Coast of Scotland the Mean Annual Temperature of the Sea is from 

 two to three degrees higher than that of the Air ; whilst still further north, 

 the difference is still more in favour of the Sea (§ 155). And they further 

 show that this Mean Annual excess represents a very much larger winter 

 excess ; the summer temperature of the Sea being below that of the Air. 

 For if we divide the whole year into three periods, each of four months, we 

 find the average excess of Sea-temperature at Otter House, Loch Fyne, 

 which is 2°*5 for the whole year, to be 6°'2 during November, December, 

 January, and February, and to be only 2°'3 during March, April, 

 September, and October; whilst during May, June, July, and August 

 there is an average difference of 2°* 1 in favour of the Air. These differ- 

 ences clearly show that the Sea here brings with it a temperature of its 

 own, which tends to maintain an equability of Climate by moderating both 



* "On the Temperature of the Sea between Scotland, Iceland, and Norway. By 

 Dr. Keith Johnston and Alexander Buchan," in Journal of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society, April 1871, p. 146. 



