The Hurricane Guide (Paperback)

Excerpt: ...have already mentioned the service surveying vessels employed on the coasts of Ireland and Scotland may render, and the remaining portion of the area marked out in the report may be occupied by vessels navigating the North Sea and the coast of Norway, as far as Hammerfest. In connexion with these observations, having especial reference to the European system of south-westerly atmospheric waves, the Mediterranean presents a surface of considerable interest, both as regards these particular waves, and the influence its waters exert in modifying the two great systems of central Europe. The late Professor Daniell has shown from the Manheim observations, that small undulations, having their origin on the northern borders of the Mediterranean, have propagated themselves Pg 40 northward, and in this manner, but in a smaller degree, the waters of the Mediterranean have contributed to increase the oscillation as well as the larger surface of the northern Atlantic. In most of the localities of this great inland sea six-hourly observations may suffice for this immediate purpose; but in sailing from Lisbon through the Straits of Gibraltar, in the neighbourhood of Sicily and Italy, and in the Grecian Archipelago, we should recommend the three-hourly series, as marking more distinctly the effects resulting from the proximity of land; this remark has especial reference to the passage through the Straits of Gibraltar, where, if possible, hourly observations should be made. The Indian and Southern Oceans. Outward and homeward bound.