THE CAUSE OF HOT AND COLD SUMMERS. 12 Dec 1846.

THE CAUSE OF HCT AND COLD SUMMERS. (1846, December 12). Geelong Advertiser and Squatters’ Advocate (Vic. : 1845 – 1847), p. 2. Retrieved December 13, 2021, from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/94446357?searchTerm=hot%20summers%20and%20cold%20winters&searchLimits=#

– Dr Ryan, the professor of chemistry at the Polytechnic Institution, has propounded a new theory on the cause of hot and cold summers, based upon the fact there are always two cur-
rents of air passing through the atmosphere at different altitudes, the heated upper current always setting from the equator to the poles, and the colder stratum as invariably acting in the contrary direction.
The currents exercise a principal influence over the waters of the ocean. The cold currents abstract the heat of the surface, and, aided occasionally by the floating ice from the north-
ward, force downward the waters upon which it acts, and sinks from its increased density, and, floating towards the equator, producing what are called compensating currents; these, acting in different directions, tend to regulate the temperature of the globe.
The gulf stream is caused by compensating currents, and it is quite possible to steer correctly through it merely by the aid of a thermometer dipped in the water.
The cold and rain of our summers are caused by the ice, which is liberated from the northern latitudes, floats down toward the equator, cools down the water, and the air passing over its surface, condenses the atmospheric moisture and produces rain, and reduces the temperature of the seasons.
The hot summers for many years have been preceded by winters it which scarcely any new ice was formed in the high latitudes, while, on the contrary, cold and damp summers have always
bean preceded by winters in which much new ice was formed.
-Britannia, July 26.