Abstract
HAVING had occasion in the spring of 1868 to consider the subject of Ocean Currents as discussed by Captain Maury and Sir John Herschel, I was led to certain views respecting the origin of the oceanic circulation, which are briefly touched upon in a paper which appeared in the Student for July, 1868. At that time an experimental test of my theory (or rather of that portion of the theory I advocated, which was, as I judged, novel) occurred to me. The experiment might, I conceive, be very readily tried. It somewhat resembled that by which Dr. Carpenter illustrated lately at the Royal Institution his views respecting the influences of evaporation and polar cold; but as I wished specially to show how the westwardly equatorial current came about, the experiment was somewhat more complex. Let the circumference of a large and shallow cylindrical basin represent the equator and the central part the north polar regions. Within this cylinder let solid matter be so placed as to represent the northern halves of the continent, in such sort that the resulting configuration would correspond to that of a map of the northern hemisphere (say on the equidistant projection). Let sea-water be poured in to represent the northern portions of the terrestrial oceans. Now to represent the Arctic ice-fields, let lumps of ice be placed at the centre of the cylindrical vessel (they should be circled round by a wire-guard) and to represent the effects of equatorial heat, let a stout iron ring round and above the rim of the cylindrical vessel be heated. In this state of things the process of circulation, which actually took place in Dr. Carpenter's experiment, would take place after such modified sort as the contour of the continent masses permitted. Now suppose that the cylindrical vessel is set in steady and somewhat slow rotation about its axis. It is clear that on the currents flowing from the pole and polewards, effects will be produced which precisely resemble those due to our earth's rotation. If I am right in regarding these effects as the true cause of the direction in which the equatorial currents, the Gulf Stream, and in fact all the currents in open ocean are observed to flow, abundant evidence to that effect will be obtained. If no such evidence be obtained, the westwardly direction of the equatorial currents must, I imagine, be ascribed to the trade winds, as Franklin and Sir J. Herschel have maintained.
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PROCTOR, R. Ocean Currents. Nature 4, 121 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004121b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004121b0
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