Abstract
AMONG the results of the Porcupine Expeditions of 1869 and 1870, there are perhaps none more important than those relating to the Temperature of the Deep Sea. For it is only to such accurate determinations of ocean temperatures as have now been made for the first time, not only at the surface and the bottom, but also at intermediate depths, that a really scientific theory can be framed of that great Oceanic Circulation, which, while it eludes all ordinary means of direct observation, seems to produce a far more important effect, both on terrestrial climate and on the distribution of the marine fauna, than that of the entire aggregate of the surface-currents which are more patent to sight. The latter usually have winds for their prime motors, and their direction is mainly determined by the configuration of the land; so that their course and action will change with any superficial alteration which either opens out a new passage or blocks up an old one. The former, on the other hand, depending solely on difference of temperature, will (to use Sir J. Herschel's apposite language) have its movements, direction, and channels of concentration mainly determined by the configuration of the sea-bottom; and vast elevations and subsidences may take place in this, without producing any change that is discernible at the surface.
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The General Oceanic Circulation . Nature 4, 97–98 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004097a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004097a0