North Equatorial Current

…part of the warm North Equatorial Current, which turns northwestward as the Antilles Current upon reaching the West Indies and completes the North Atlantic circulation pattern.

…northeast monsoon (November–March), the Indian North Equatorial Current (or Northeast Monsoon Drift) flows southwest and west, crossing the Equator. Between this westerly current and the westerly current maintained south of the Equator by the southeast trade winds, a strong Equatorial Countercurrent flows east at about latitude 10° S. The southwest…

…during the northeast monsoon, the North Equatorial Current flows westward, turns south at the coast of Somalia, and returns east as the Equatorial Countercurrent between latitudes 2° and 10° S. An equatorial undercurrent flows eastward at a depth of 500 feet (150 metres) at that time. During the southwest monsoon,…

…directed toward the west, the North Equatorial Current in the Northern Hemisphere and the South Equatorial Current in the Southern Hemisphere. Near the thermal equator, where the warmest surface water is found, there occurs the eastward-flowing Equatorial Counter Current. This current is slightly north of the geographic Equator, drawing the…

…the west to form the North and South Equatorial currents, the axes of which coincide with latitude 15° N and the Equator, respectively. Squeezed between the equatorial currents is a well-defined countercurrent, the axis of which is always north of the Equator and which extends from the Philippines to the…

…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…