The Gulf Stream
Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
Coursing through the Atlantic Ocean is a powerful current with a force 300 times that of the mighty Amazon. Ulanski explores the fascinating science and history of this sea highway known as the Gulf Stream, a watery wilderness that stretches from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic. Spanning both distance and time, Ulanski’s investigation reveals how the Gulf Stream affects and is affected by every living thing that encounters it — from tiny planktonic organisms to giant bluefin tuna, from ancient mariners to big-game anglers. He examines the scientific discovery of ocean circulation, the role of ocean currents in the settlement of the New World, and the biological life teeming in the stream.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ulanski (The Science of Fly Fishing) takes readers on a dizzying trip within, afloat and around the Gulf Stream, the "mighty oceanic river, powerful enough to be readily seen from space," containing mysterious, scary and tasty creatures: the reclusive, 2,000-pound giant squid; swarms of tentacled, stinging Portuguese man-of-wars and a complex food chain, with tiny drifting phytoplankton ("the grasses of the sea") at the bottom and the "almost mythic" bluefin tuna at the top. The book also depicts human life along the Gulf Stream: Columbus following the trade winds and the North Atlantic gyre to reach the New World; buccaneers and pirates of the Caribbean; Benjamin Franklin, "intrigued by the idea of a 'stream' flowing through... the Atlantic Ocean" and hoping to speed up mail delivery, measuring and "meticulously recording" water temperatures on trips back and forth to Europe. Although the potentially urgent issue of the Gulf Stream in relation to climate change is given short shrift, this multifaceted treatment of "the blue god" offers something for almost every kind of ocean lover.
