Gulf Stream
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What is the Gulf Stream?
The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that flows off the North American coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada. It is part of a larger clockwise-rotating current system in the North Atlantic, and it originates from the westward-flowing North Equatorial Current, which moves from North Africa to the West Indies.
The Gulf Stream significantly warms the climates of nearby landmasses. Northwestern Europe receives warmth and moisture from prevailing westerly winds, creating temperature anomalies. For example, Bergen, Norway, experiences an average high temperature of 34 °F (1 °C) during its coldest month.
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Where is the Gulf Stream located?
The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current off the North American coast. It flows northeastward between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada. The Gulf Stream is part of a clockwise-rotating system of currents in the North Atlantic. Most of the water that enters the Gulf Stream has been pushed westward across the Atlantic by the Northeast Trade Winds.
As the current moves north between Florida and the Bahamas, it flows at a depth of about 2,600 feet (790 meters) and follows the continental slope beyond the edge of the shelf. Around 1,500 miles (2,400 km) northeast of Cape Hatteras, in the Grand Banks area, the warm Gulf Stream waters meet the cold, southward-flowing Labrador Current.
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How does the Gulf Stream move through the ocean?
The Gulf Stream, a warm and swift ocean current in the North Atlantic, is part of a larger, clockwise-rotating current system. Driven by trade winds, its waters move westward across the Atlantic, narrowing in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, accelerating to over 4 miles per hour as it passes through the Straits of Florida.
As the Gulf Stream turns north, it flows at approximately 2,600 feet deep between Florida and the Bahamas, following the continental slope. Its waters, distinctively deep blue with high temperature and salinity, contrast sharply with the surrounding waters, especially along its western edge or the Cold Wall.
Past Cape Hatteras, the Gulf Stream widens and enters deeper waters, interacting with the cold, southward-flowing Western Boundary Undercurrent. As it moves into the North Atlantic, it gradually dissipates into a meandering pattern, influenced mainly by westerly winds. A portion of its waters veer south into the Sargasso Sea, while the remainder divides into the Canary Current towards Europe and another branch towards northwestern Europe.
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Why is the Gulf Stream important for the climate of nearby regions?
The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that significantly influences the climate of nearby regions. It transports heat from the tropics towards the North Atlantic, releasing warmth into the atmosphere. This process moderates the climate of Western Europe, causing significantly warmer temperatures, especially in winter, compared to other regions at similar latitudes. The Gulf Stream also supplies moisture to the atmosphere, contributing to precipitation and further affecting regional weather patterns.
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How does the Gulf Stream affect weather and temperatures in Europe and North America?
The Gulf Stream, a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current, significantly influences the climate and temperatures of both Europe and North America.
Europe
The Gulf Stream's most notable effect is its warming influence on the climate of northwestern Europe. The prevailing westerly winds carry warmth and moisture from the ocean, resulting in significantly milder temperatures compared to other regions at similar latitudes. For example, the air over the ocean west of Norway can be more than 40 °F (22 °C) warmer than the average for its latitude in winter. This effect extends to southwestern England, which experiences unusually mild winters that support subtropical vegetation.
North America
In North America, the Gulf Stream separates the warm, saline waters of the Sargasso Sea from the colder waters to the west and north. During winter, the surface temperatures of the Gulf Stream off New England can be 20 °F (11 °C) higher than the surface waters just 150 miles (240 km) to the northwest. However, the Gulf Stream has little effect along the western margins of the North Atlantic, where winds predominantly blow from the shore. This results in colder average temperatures during the coldest month in areas like Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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What could happen if the Gulf Stream slows down or changes its path?
A slowdown or change in the Gulf Stream's path could significantly impact climate and marine ecosystems. The Gulf Stream warms the climates of adjacent land areas, especially in northwestern Europe. A weaker current could lead to a dramatic cooling in Europe and a rise in average temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere.
The shift may also relocate rain belts in southern Africa, potentially increasing drought frequency, change the timing of the Indian monsoon, accelerate the melting of Antarctic ice sheets, and reduce the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. Marine life, including commercially valuable species such as the bluefin tuna and Atlantic salmon, could be affected, along with the distribution of other marine organisms.
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Gulf Stream, warm ocean current flowing in the North Atlantic northeastward off the North American coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U.S., and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada. In popular conception the Gulf Stream also includes the Florida Current (between the Straits of Florida and Cape Hatteras) and the West Wind Drift (east of the Grand Banks).
The Gulf Stream is part of a general clockwise-rotating system of currents in the North Atlantic. It is fed by the westward-flowing North Equatorial Current moving from North Africa to the West Indies. Off the northeastern coast of South America, this current splits into the Caribbean Current, which passes into the Caribbean Sea and through the Yucatán Channel into the Gulf of Mexico, and into the Antilles Current, which flows to the north and east of the West Indies. The Caribbean Current reemerges into the Atlantic through the Straits of Florida between the Florida Keys and Cuba to form the Florida Current. Deflected to the northeast by the submerged Great Bahama Bank southeast of the Florida Peninsula, this swift current is joined by the Antilles Current and flows roughly parallel to the eastern coast of the United States to about Cape Hatteras. There the path of the Gulf Stream becomes twisted as huge swirls of warm water break off. A part of the Gulf Stream forms a countercurrent that flows south and then west. The countercurrent rejoins the Gulf Stream on its seaward side along the coast of Florida and the Carolinas.
The main portion of the Gulf Stream continues north, veering more to the east and passing close to the Grand Banks, south of Newfoundland, where it breaks up into swirling currents. Some of these eddies flow toward the British Isles and the Norwegian seas and form the North Atlantic Current (or Drift). A larger number flow south and east, either becoming part of westward-flowing countercurrents or joining the Canary Current.
History of scientific study
The Gulf Stream was first described by the Spanish navigator and explorer Juan Ponce de León early in the 16th century. In the late 1700s Benjamin Franklin produced a map of the current. In 1844 systematic surveying of the stream was begun by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Concentrated modern efforts were inaugurated only in the early 1930s by the ketch Atlantis of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
One of the difficulties of scientific study of the Gulf Stream is its extremely complex makeup. It is not a simple ribbon of moving water but rather a complicated network of currents that tend to shift course over time, to disappear and then reappear, and to develop eddies along the margins. Today, orbiting space satellites are utilized to map the path of the Gulf Stream. The satellites are equipped with sensors that can detect temperature and colour variations to trace the changing surface patterns of the current.
Movement and physical features
Most of the waters that enter the Gulf Stream system first have been driven westward across the Atlantic by the Northeast Trade Winds. In the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico the current is gradually narrowed, and its velocity increases to more than 3.5 knots (4 miles [6.5 km] per hour) as it passes through the Straits of Florida. The volume of flow there has been measured at 1,060,000,000 cubic feet (30,000,000 cubic metres) per second, or many hundreds of times that of the Mississippi River. As it turns north between Florida and the Bahamas, the Florida Current flows at a depth of some 2,600 feet (790 metres) and then follows the continental slope beyond the edge of the shelf. Velocities gradually decrease to about one knot off Cape Hatteras.
In the western Atlantic, the current’s deep-blue water, with its higher temperature and salinity, is readily distinguishable from surrounding waters, particularly along its well-defined western margin. The eastern edge gradually moves seaward as the current moves northward. The water between the current and the North American mainland, with its lower salinity and temperature, forms a boundary known as the Cold Wall. This water, overlying the continental shelf, frequently has a southerly flow, counter to that of the Florida Current.
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Off the coast of the United States, the Gulf Stream system separates the relatively warm and saline waters of the Sargasso Sea in the mid-Atlantic region from the colder waters to the west and north. In winter, for example, average surface temperatures of the Gulf Stream off New England may be 20 °F (11 °C) higher than those of surface waters only 150 miles (240 km) to the northwest, although there is less than a 10 °F (6 °C) change in surface-water temperatures over a 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometre) distance to the southeast.
Beyond Cape Hatteras the Gulf Stream broadens and moves into deeper water. There it crosses the Western Boundary Undercurrent, which consists of cold, southward-flowing water that sinks to considerable depths in the vicinity of Greenland. About 1,500 miles (2,400 km) northeast of Cape Hatteras, in the area of the Grand Banks, the warm Gulf Stream waters come close to the cold, southward-flowing Labrador Current. The contact of cold, humid air moving over the Labrador Current with the warm surface waters of the Gulf Stream causes widespread condensation. This climatic condition causes the region to have one of the highest incidences of fog in the world.
Moving out into the North Atlantic, the current becomes shallower and begins to break down into a meandering pattern of disconnected filaments flowing in the same general direction. Much of the initial force of the current has been dissipated by this time, and momentum is afforded primarily by the westerly winds. Part of the water there is diverted southward into the Sargasso Sea area. Near the middle of the ocean, the North Atlantic Current divides. One branch moves southeast and south as the relatively cool Canary Current, which flows past the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa. The other branch (the balance of the North Atlantic Current) moves toward northwestern Europe.