Carta de ventos e correntes do Oceano Atlântico / Janeiro 1ª. Série. parte Norte / Pelos officiaes da armada, J. J. de Barros & J. d’Oliveira Ir. sob a direcção Contre-Almirante João Carlos de Brito Capello, Director do Observatorio Meteorolgico do Infante D. Luiz. / Secção de meteorolgico nautica - Comissão de Cartographia. /

• Main Authors: CAPELLO, João Carlos de Brito (1831 - 1901), BARROS, Joaquim José de (1866 - 1946)
• Format: Map
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lithographia da Companhia Nacional Editora 1900
• Subjects: Barros; Indian; Observatorio; Sob’; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~342467~90110603; https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size4/RUMSEY~8~1/199/15102000.jpg

See our 15038.000 for a French wind chart of the south Atlantic. "Extremely rare – the most advanced early scientific hydrological-metrological chart of the critical passage of the Western Atlantic from the Equator to the 40° North, charting the powerful forces related to the North Atlantic Gyre and the Guinea Current, the understanding of which was long critical to navigation to and from Europe and the Americas and Africa (and beyond to the Indian Ocean); made under the direction of the esteemed Portuguese meteorologist Rear Admiral Joao Carlos de Brito Capello following his rigorous technique, published in Lisbon for the maritime division of the Comissao de Cartographia, the Portuguese colonial mapping agency. This highly sophisticated charts depicts the Western Atlantic Ocean between the Equator and 40° North, which embraces the passage from Lisbon (with the rest of Europe beyond) down to include all of West Africa, as far down as Sao Tomé and Príncipe. This stretch of ocean was critical, as it contained the eastern part of the North Atlantic Gyre and the Guinea Current, the skilled navigation of which was vital to facilitating travel between Europe and Africa (and Asia beyond), as well as the Trans-Atlantic passage to and from the West Indies and South America. The North Atlantic Gyre is a massive circular current that takes up most of the Atlantic between the Equatorial latitudes and the early 40s-degrees North. It runs clockwise, with the doldrums of the Saragossa Sea in the centre. The incredibly powerful currents, combined with accompanying winds forcefully run towards the coasts of Portugal before curving down to the littoral of West Africa to Cape Verde, whereupon it sharply departs southwestward into the open Atlantic. Riding the Gyre allows one to travel to and from the West Indies and Brazil with relative ease, however, running directly against the current was nearly impossible for sailing ships. Running in an eastward direction from the Mid-Atlantic in the Equatorial latitudes North towards and ...