Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T00:43:21.862Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The oceanographic contribution of James Croll

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2021

Alastair DAWSON Open the ORCID record for Alastair DAWSON [Opens in a new window]
Alastair DAWSON*
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences: Geography, University of Dundee, The Nethergate, DundeeDD1 4HN, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: agdawson@dundee.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The research of James Croll on the nature of Ice Ages led him into a detailed investigation of ocean currents. By the early 1870s he had calculated from first principles the quantities of heat delivered by ocean currents to high latitude areas and he understood how this heat supply may have altered drastically during ice ages. The publication of his many papers on ocean currents as well as his book, Climate and Time, coincided with Challenger expedition that, in 1872, embarked on a 4-year voyage of scientific exploration of the world's oceans. The expedition was crucially important for Croll since it enabled him to test his theories of ocean circulation using real data. His novel theories of ocean circulation based on this information conflicted with the established views popularly advocated by William Carpenter but they ultimately prevailed. In the many writings of Croll on ocean currents, we encounter, as with other areas of his research, numerous remarkable ideas many decades ahead their time.

Keywords

CarpenterChallenger expeditiongravitationocean currentsocean temperaturesalinity
Type
Articles
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 112 , Special Issue 3-4: James Croll – from Janitor to Genius , September 2021 , pp. 253 - 260
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Society of Edinburgh

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

8. References

Ashworth, J.H. 2004. Murray, Sir John (1841–1914). In Oxford Dictionary of national biography (D. Cannadine ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35165.Google Scholar
Bonney, T.G. 1885–1900. Thomson, Charles Wyville. Dictionary of National Biography 56, 237–38.Google Scholar
Broecker, W. S. 1995. The glacial world according to wally. Palisades, NY: Eldigio Press, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.Google Scholar
Buchan, A. 1891. The meteorological results of the Challenger Expedition in relation to Physical Geography. Royal Geographical Society, London, 21pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, W. 1874. On the physical cause of ocean currents. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 47, 359–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, W. 1875. Remarks on Mr Croll's ‘Crucial Test’. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 50, 402–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, J. 1864. On the physical cause of the change of climate during geological epochs. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophy Magazine and Journal of Science 28, 121–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, J. 1867. On the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic; its influence on the climate of the polar regions, and the level of the sea. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow 2, 177–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, J. 1874a. On the physical cause of ocean currents – part III. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 47, 94–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, J. 1874b. On the physical cause of ocean currents. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 47, 168–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, J. 1874c. On the physical cause of ocean currents. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 47, 434–7.Google Scholar
Croll, J. 1875a. Climate and time in their geological relations: a theory of secular changes of the earth's climate. New York: D Appleton and Co., 377 pp.Google Scholar
Croll, J. 1875b. The challenger's crucial test of the wind and gravitational theories of oceanic circulation. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 50, 242–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, J. 1875c. The wind theory of oceanic circulation – objections examined. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 50, 286–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croll, J. 1875d. Further remarks on the ‘Crucial Test’ argument’. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 50, 489–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, A. G. 2019. Introducing Sea level change. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 91pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekman, V. W. 1905. On the influence of the Earth's rotation on Ocean-currents. Arvik for Matematik, Astronomi och Fysik, Ban2, No. 11, 1–53.Google Scholar
Farrell, W. E. & Clark, J. A. 1976. On postglacial sea level. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 46, 647–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
F.R.S. 1874. Ocean circulation – Dr. Carpenter and Mr. Croll. Nature 240, 83–4.Google Scholar
Gula, J., Molemaker, M. J. & McWilliams, J. C. 2015. Gulf Stream dynamics along the Southeastern U.S. Seaboard. Journal of Physical Oceanography 45, 690–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IPCC 2019. Intergovernmental panel report on climate change: the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate. Technical Summary. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Irons, J. C. 1896. Autobiographical sketch of James Croll with memoir of his life and work. London: Edward Stanford.Google Scholar
Maury, M. F. 1855. The physical geography of the sea. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Mitrovica, J. X., Tamisiea, M. E., Davis, J. L. & Milne, G. A. 2001. Recent mass balance of polar ice sheets inferred from patterns of global sea-level change. Nature 409, 1026–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rossby, T., Flagg, C. N., Donohue, K., Sanchez-Franks, A. & Lillibridge, J. 2013. On the long-term stability of Gulf Stream transport based on 20 years of direct measurements. Geophysical Research Letters 41, 114–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. 2004. Carpenter, William Benjamin (1831–1885). In Oxford Dictionary of national biography (D. Cannadine ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/4742.Google Scholar
Thomson, C. W. 1878. The voyage of the challenger. The Atlantic. A preliminary account of the general results of the voyage during the year 1873 and the early part of the year 1876. New York: Harper.Google Scholar