Gulf Stream

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The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this representation of water temperatures of the Atlantic. Source: NASA.

The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, exits through the Strait of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. At about 30°W, 40°N, it splits in two, with the northern stream crossing to northern Europe and the southern stream recirculating off West Africa. The Gulf Stream influences the climate of the east coast of North America from Florida to Newfoundland, and the west coast of Europe. It is part of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre.

[edit] The Gulf Stream proper and the North Atlantic Drift

European discovery of the Gulf Stream dates to the 1513 expedition of Juan Ponce de León, after which it became widely used by Spanish ships sailing from the Caribbean to Spain.^[1] In 1786 Benjamin Franklin studied and mapped the current in detail.^[2] The Gulf Stream proper is a western-intensified current, largely driven by wind stress.^[3] The North Atlantic Drift, in contrast, is largely thermohaline circulation driven. By carrying warm water northeast across the Atlantic, it makes Western Europe (and especially Northern Europe) warmer than they otherwise would be. However, the extent of its contribution to the actual temperature differential between North America and Europe is a matter of dispute.^[4]

[edit] Normal behavior of the Gulf Stream

A river of sea water, called the Atlantic North Equatorial Current, flows westward off the coast of northern Africa. When this current interacts with the northeastern coast of South America, the current forks into two branches. One passes into the Caribbean Sea, while a second, the Antilles Current, flows north and east of the West Indies. These two branches rejoin north of the Straits of Florida, as shown on the accompanying map.

Consequently, the resulting Gulf Stream is a strong ocean current, transporting about 1.4 petawatts of heat, equivalent to 100 times the world energy demand.^[5] It transports water at a rate of 30 million cubic meters per second (30 sverdrups) through the Florida Straits. After it passes Cape Hatteras, this rate increases to 80 million cubic meters per second. The volume of the Gulf Stream dwarfs all rivers that empty into the Atlantic combined, which barely total 0.6 million cubic meters per second. It is weaker, however, than the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

Typically, the Gulf Stream is 80–150 km wide and 800–1200 m deep. The current velocity is fastest near the surface, with the maximum speed typically about 2.5 m/s^[6] (approx. 4.9 knots).

As it travels north, the warm water transported by the Gulf Stream undergoes evaporative cooling and brine exclusion. The cooling is wind driven: wind moving over the water cools it and also causes evaporation, leaving a saltier brine. In this process, the water increases in salinity and density, and decreases in temperature. These two processes produce water that is denser and colder (or, more exactly, water that is still liquid at a lower temperature). In the North Atlantic Ocean, the water becomes so dense that it begins to sink down through less salty and less dense water. (The convective action is not unlike that of a lava lamp.) This downdraft of heavy, cold and dense water becomes a part of the North Atlantic Deep Water, a southgoing stream.

Schematic of the world's ocean currents. Click for larger image.

[edit] Localized effects

[edit] North America

The Gulf Stream is influential on the climate of the east coast of Florida, especially southeast Florida(where it is often just a mile or two off the coast), helping to keep temperatures warmer than in the rest of the southeastern United States during the winter.^{[citation needed]} During the summer, the effect is opposite but smaller.^{[citation needed]} The Gulf Stream makes the climate of offshore islands of Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket milder than that of Massachusetts Bay, which is isolated from Gulf Stream effects by Cape Cod.

[edit] Britain and Ireland

The North Atlantic Current of the Gulf Stream, along with similar warm air currents, helps keep Ireland and the western coast of Great Britain a couple of degrees warmer than the east. However the difference is most dramatic in the western coastal islands of Scotland. Plockton, just east of the Isle of Skye, on the west coast of Scotland, has a mild enough climate to support palm-like cabbage trees even though it is a degree further north than Moscow.

[edit] Norway

The most spectacular effect of the Gulf Stream and the strong westerly winds (driven by the warm water of the gulf stream) on Europe occurs along the Norwegian coast.^{[citation needed]} Much of Norway lies in the Arctic region, most of which is covered with ice and snow in winter. But almost all of Norway's coast--even that part in the Arctic--remains free of ice and snow throughout the winter.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The effect of global warming

Main article: Shutdown of thermohaline circulation

There is some speculation that global warming could decrease or shutdown thermohaline circulation and therefore reduce the North Atlantic Drift. The timescale that this might happen in is unclear; estimates range from a few decades to a few hundred years[1]. This could trigger localised cooling in the North Atlantic and lead to cooling (or lesser warming) in that region, particularly affecting areas that are warmed by the North Atlantic Drift, such as Scandinavia and Great Britain.^[7] The chances of this occurring are unclear.^[8]

At present, most available data show that Gulf Stream flow was stable over the past 40 years.^[9] One report, based on a snapshot survey, suggested that the deep return flow has weakened^[10] by 30% since 1957, which would imply a weakening in the North Atlantic Deep Water production.^[11] However, this should have caused a temperature drop of several degrees in northwest Europe, but instead temperatures have tended to increase. It was later discovered, using the first cross-Atlantic array of moored current meters, that variations within one year were just as large.^[12] It has been reported by several news media^[13][14] in late 2006 that in november 2004 the gulf stream stopped entirely for ten days. At least part of the apparent weakening of the Gulf Stream (if real) may be cyclical and connected to recent positive values of North Atlantic Oscillation.^[15] Recent research^[16] shows that Gulf Stream volume transport during the Little Ice Age was ten percent weaker than today’s, implying that diminished oceanic heat transport may have contributed to the 16th- to the mid-19th-century cooling in the North Atlantic.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gulf stream

• Climate
• Global warming
• Ocean current
• Oceanography
• North Atlantic Drift
• Rogue wave
• Western boundary current
• Jet stream

v • d • e Oceanic Gyres
North Pacific Gyre	North Equatorial Current · Kuroshio Current · North Pacific Current · California Current · Great Pacific Garbage Patch
South Pacific Gyre	South Equatorial Current · East Australian Current · Antarctic Circumpolar Current · Humboldt Current
North Atlantic Gyre	North Equatorial Current · Gulf Stream · North Atlantic Current · Canary Current
South Atlantic Gyre	South Equatorial Current · Brazil Current · Antarctic Circumpolar Current · Benguela Current
Indian Ocean Gyre	South Equatorial Current · Agulhas Current · Antarctic Circumpolar Current · West Australian Current
Key concepts	Ocean current · Coriolis effect · Thermohaline circulation · Atmospheric circulation · Western boundary current · Eastern boundary current

[edit] References

• Corona Magazine Issue 124: Science (German, Transported amount of power)
• Barbie Bischof, Arthur J. Mariano, Edward H. Ryan (2003). The North Atlantic Drift Current. Ocean Surface Currents. The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Retrieved on 2007-08-02.
• "Could the Atlantic Current Switch Off?", National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, September 30, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-02. 
• Hátún et al. (September 16, 2005). "Influence of the Atlantic Subpolar Gyre on the Thermohaline Circulation". Science 309 (5742): 1841–1844. doi:10.1126/science.1114777. Retrieved on 2007-08-02.  (Increased temperature and salinity in the Nordic Seas.)

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Western Boundary Currents - Description of the gulf stream as a western boundary current