PALM TREES IN SCOTLAND


The Gulf Stream is a warm ocean current in
the North Atlantic Ocean, flowing from the
Gulf of Mexico, northeast along the US coast
to Nantucket Island, and from there to the
British Isles and the Norwegian Seas.

First described by the Spanish navigator and
explorer Juan Ponce de León early in the 16th
century, the Gulf Stream's course was
originally charted in 1770, a collaboration
of Benjamin Franklin and Timothy Folger. In
1844, systematic surveying of the stream was
undertaken by the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey. More recent efforts occurred
in the early 1930's, by the ketch Atlantis of
the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The Gulf of Mexico, once thought to be the
source of the Stream, actually contributes
very little to its flow. The Gulf Stream
results when two strong currents, the North
and South Equatorial Currents, mingle in the
passage between the Windward Islands and the
Caribbean Sea. Off the southern coast of
Florida, it is strengthened by other currents
from the northern coast of Puerto Rico and
from the Bahamas to the east.

The true Gulf Stream flows between the
Straits of Florida, and the Grand Banks.
However, it is part of a much larger Gulf
Stream System, that covers the entire
northward and eastward flow from the Straits
of Florida, including the branches crossing
the North Atlantic from the region south of
the Newfoundland Banks.

About 1,500 miles (2,414 km) northeast of
Cape Hatteras, in the area of the Grand
Banks, the warm Gulf Stream waters come close
to the cold, southward-flowing Labrador
Current. The contact of cold, humid air
moving over the Labrador Current with the
warm surface waters of the Gulf Stream causes
widespread condensation. This climatic
condition causes the region to have one of
the highest incidences of fog in the world.

In the western Atlantic, the current's
deep-blue water, with its higher temperature
and salinity, is readily distinguishable from
surrounding waters, particularly along its
well-defined western margin.

A major contribution of the Gulf Stream
System is its warming effect upon the
climates of adjacent land areas. In winter,
the air over the ocean west of Norway is more
than 40° F (22° C) warmer than the average
for that latitude, one of the greatest
temperature anomalies in the world. The
prevailing westerly winds carry the warmth
and moisture of the ocean to northwestern
Europe, giving Bergen, Norway, at 60 degrees
north latitude, an average high temperature
for its coldest month of 34° F (1° C), while
Reykjavík, Iceland, 4 degrees of latitude
farther north, has a 31° F (-0.6° C) average
for its coldest month.

Interestingly, along the western North
Atlantic, where the winds are predominantly
from the shore, the Gulf Stream has little
effect. Halifax, Nova Scotia, nearly 1,000
miles (1,609 km) south of Bergen, averages
only 23° F (-5° C) during its coldest month.

In southwestern England, the climatic
modification produced by the current is
reflected in the extraordinary mildness of
the winters at this northern latitude. Here,
winter vegetables and flowers are grown, and
lemon trees are seen in southern Devonshire.

And, let's not forget the palm trees in
Scotland!!

Logan Botanic Garden is in the parish of
Kirkmaiden, in the Rhinns of Galloway, a
narrow peninsula that juts out into the Irish
Sea, at the extreme south-west of Scotland.

Our friend, the Gulf Stream, gives these
gardens a virtual sub- tropical climate.
Thus, the Logan features plants usually
identified with warmer areas of the world,
including palm trees.

What a different world this would have been,
absent the Gulf Stream, with the British
Isles and Norway occupying a frozen tundra!


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