Marvelous Complexity

Stuart Florida
N 27 12.86 W 080 15.46

I love this video called Perpetual Ocean.  Watch the whole thing and you'll see the entire globe.




Note in particular the Gulf Stream near the Southeast US. It plays a major role in our lives.

Marvel at the complexities of the currents and swirls.  Now think about the ancient mariners at the time of world exploration.  They knew by experience about many of these currents.  However they did not have pictures to convey the information.   Instead they had journals and "cheat sheets" which using words only gave advice on which way to route their voyages.   No wonder their trade was so difficult, and no wonder that the best navigators were revered an their knowledge was thought of as mysterious and incomprehensible.

I'm working on a blog post about "pilot charts" Those are maps that condense that historical knowledge of winds and currents in a form that can be used to plan voyages.  They are marvels of pre-computer technology at its best.