Talk:Cape Agulhas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cape Agulhas is part of WikiProject South Africa, a WikiProject which aims to systematically improve South Africa-related articles using the tools on the Project page. You are welcome and encouraged to edit the article attached to this page and to join the project.

Beefart says: Fine work dudes. It is beginning to be a good page...Captainbeefart 14:46, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Agreed! My number one comment would be that it could use some more references; for FA status, every major statement will need a source of some kind; but as it stands, it's definitely a useful article. Thinking about what else could go in there, I guess something about climate,[1] and maybe a historical bit -- first discovery / rounding, etc. — Johan the Ghost _seance 15:07, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Divide between Indian and Atlantic oceans

Hi, thanks for starting the discussion. Someone has added the image clearly showing the divide point. That does not necessarily convince me that it is a fact. Maybe it was some local municipal official, who was confusing it with the fact that the point is most the southern point of africa, who was responsible for putting up the two ocean plates. Regards Gregorydavid 07:25, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I have been getting into mapping and satelite images through Wiki. Now as far as the oceans meeting here, I am not convinced. The evidence is in the images. The beaches on the Indian Ocean side are all swept by an anti-clockwise current, right past Cape Agulhas up to Cape Point and those beaches on the West Coast are swept by a clockwise current. Do you agree? Cheers Gregorydavid 07:40, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

I changed the position of the cape back to what I believe is the right place. Both Google maps and Mapquest show the point you entered — 20°9'15" E — to be in the ocean well east of the cape, and show the current point — 20°0'9.15" E — to be the correct position of the cape.

As for your point about where the oceans meet, I'm not sure what you mean. In terms of the "official" definitions of ocean boundaries, it's Cape Agulhas — see para. 2 of Geography and check the reference. The boundary marker in the image is therefore perfectly correct.

In terms of where the conflicting currents meet, well, you're talking about a totally turbulent mixing of opposing water flows, so of course the "boundary" is totaly variable. I think the second part of para. 2 says it quite well. (Maybe there's a case for changing "South of Cape Agulhas the warm Agulhas Current ..." to "South-west of Cape Agulhas...".) Cape Point also discusses this, and I think pretty well. Cheers, — Johan the Ghost _seance 10:55, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Found it at last! I was searching for this article. The picture shows how the Agulhas current swirls into the Atlantic. What I guess I don't see here is the current curling up the west coast of Africa to Good Hope / Cape Point — although it's obviously highly changeable — so as I see it designating either of those points as "the" meeting point would seem a little arbitrary. Interesting point about the beaches, but I'm not sure how you tell which way the currents are going? — Johan the Ghost _seance 17:29, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I cut the following out of the article you found: "From the coast of the Antarctic continent northwards, along the meridian of 20°E to Cape Agulhas (34°50’S – 20°00’E), the southern extremity of the Republic of South Africa, in Africa (the common limit with the South Atlantic Ocean). So those who travel to Cape Point, or the Cape of Good Hope, in the hope of seeing the confluence of two oceans... you need to travel a little further south. And for those who still try to pursue the debate for commercial reasons, the Hydrographic Office of the South African Navy accepts the findings of the IHO regarding the common boundary of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and that they apply these findings in full in their products. The Department of Oceanography at the University of Cape Town also accepts and applies the 20°E dividing line. The most common misunderstanding behind the controversy is the erroneous assumption that oceans and currents are synonymous."

The eastern border of Namibia also runs along 20°00’E. That is why I fiddled with the coordinates for Agulhas earlier. On my map it appeared a bit further east of the 20°00’E line. If the ocean divide is as per definition of an authority I can accept that. The point about the currents is what I was latching on to. As they move down the coast they erode the shore and move sediments along with them. The semiments or beach sand tends to deposit behind structures and erode away in front of structures, from the point of view of the flowing current. Regards, Greg Gregorydavid 07:54, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, that's interesting; I'll have to have a closer look at those pics. In terms of figuring out what the "prevailing" currents are, it would be useful to have the input of someone local. — Johan the Ghost _seance 11:06, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Now that we know that the divide is as per definition we can understand that it is quite a coincidence that the southern most tip and the divide almost correspond exactly..

Gregorydavid 09:07, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Origin of name

Hi, I see this has been fixed up. Now we need to remove the duplication on the issue and tidy it up a little.. Gregorydavid 09:04, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Two oceans marathon

Capetonians and other people run what is known as the Two Oceans Marathon which is routed around Cape Peninsula. So ordinary people don't know everything.. Gregorydavid 09:11, 25 April 2006 (UTC)