Phenomena
Gulf Stream
Ocean Current
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A warm, swift western boundary current that carries tropical Atlantic water up the North American coast and across toward Europe, moderating the climate of northwest Europe. Benjamin Franklin published one of its first charts in 1770 to explain why mail ships sailing against it ran slow, making it among the earliest ocean currents studied systematically.
Facts
Magnitude or ScaleTransports roughly 30 million cubic meters of water per second through the Florida Straits, strengthening severalfold as it crosses the North Atlantic 1 LocationNorth Atlantic Ocean, from the Straits of Florida along the North American east coast toward northwest Europe 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Wind driving and the global overturning circulation both feed the Gulf Stream; its northern extension carries part of the overturning's warm upper limb.
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