Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. Vol. 13, no. 3.

Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. Vol. 13, no. 3. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    101/128 (page 231)
    show a temperature of 3° below that of the open sea 350 miles to the west. Our s.w. wind has its birthplace where tho temperature of the sea is at least 55° in January, causing the thermometer on the Cornish coast, under its influence, to stand steadily at 52 , and the great warmth of the past winter resulted from the continued persistency of this wind rather than from any excess of heat in the sea. The s.w. wind gives to Penzance a mean winter temperature of 44°, being the same as that of Montpellier; Cork falls short of it by only half a degree; and the Scilly Isles at this season exceed this noted winter resort by 2]°. Table, showing the Temperature of the Surface-water of the Atlantic Ocean, at every 5° of Longitude, from the South of Ireland to the Banks of Newfoundland, on the course of Cunard’s Steam-ships. Months. On the Banks. Longitude West. 40° 35° 30° 25° 20° 15° 10° January 30 57 53 54 55 54 52 51 February 31 54 53 52 53 52 52 50 March 32 54 54 55 54 54 52 51 April 34 57 55 55 52 54 53 52 May 34 55 54 55 56 55 53 53 June 40 60 59 58 56 58 58 57 July 45 60 59 58 59 60 58 59 August 50 61 59 60 59 60 60 59 September 52 59 59 60 59 60 59 58 October 47 59 59 56 56 57 57 55 November 44 58 57 58 59 57 54 53 J December 32 55 54 54 54 54 53 52 Mean of the Year 39-2 57-2 56-2 56*2 56-0 56-2 55-1 54*2 Penarth, Truro, April 23rd, 18G9. The President, in returning thanks to the authors of the Papers, said that Admiral Irminger was a distinguished officer of the Danish navy, well-known for the interest he had taken in Arctic exploration during the time of the search for Sir John Franklin. Our own naval commanders would well recollect the kind services he then rendered them. He (the President) was proud to reckon the gallant Admiral amongst his own personal friends. Mr. Findlay said he believed it an error to call the warm stream which flowed towards the western coasts of Europe the Gulf Stream ; and he believed that known facts revealed some larger agent than the Gulf Stream at work in producing the mild climates of Western Europe. It was only within the last twenty years that it had been called the Gulf Stream. Pennell, Herschel, and all the older authorities, called it the North Atlantic current. The Gulf Stream, where it issued from the narrows of the Gulf of Florida, had a sectional area of only six square miles. It took about 220 days to travel from the Gulf