Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
- Page 56 of 779 - First - Home
To The East Of The Port Of Boston, And On The Meridian Of Halifax,
In Latitude 41 Degrees 25 Minutes, And Longitude 67 Degrees, The
Current Is Near 80 Leagues Broad.
From this point it turns suddenly
to the east, so that its western edge, as it bends, becomes the
western limit of the running waters, skirting the extremity of the
great bank of Newfoundland, which M. Volney ingeniously calls the
bar of the mouth of this enormous sea-river.
The cold waters of
this bank, which according to my experiments are at a temperature
of 8.7 or 10 degrees (7 or 8 degrees R.) present a striking
contrast with the waters of the torrid zone, driven northward by
the Gulf-stream, the temperature of which is from 21 to 22.5
degrees (17 to 18 degrees R.). in these latitudes, the caloric is
distributed in a singular manner throughout the ocean; the waters
of the bank are 9.4 degrees colder than the neighbouring sea; and
this sea is 3 degrees colder than the current. These zones can have
no equilibrium of temperature, having a source of heat, or a cause
of refrigeration, which is peculiar to each, and the influence of
which is permanent.
From the bank of Newfoundland, or from the 52nd degree of longitude
to the Azores, the Gulf-stream continues its course to east and
east-south-east. The waters are still acted upon by the impulsion
they received near a thousand leagues distance, in the straits of
Florida, between the island of Cuba and the shoals of Tortoise
Island.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 56 of 779
Words from 15084 to 15349
of 211363
