Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is a warm, fast-moving current in the Atlantic Ocean that begins in the Gulf of Mexico, funnels through the Straits of Florida and then runs north along the eastern coast of the United States before bending east into the open Atlantic near North Carolina, around 36 degrees north latitude. Past that point it broadens and slows into the North Atlantic Current, which carries its warm water on toward northwestern Europe; near 40 degrees north, 30 degrees west, the flow splits, with one branch, the North Atlantic Drift, continuing toward northern Europe and the other, the Canary Current, curving south again off West Africa. The current is roughly 100 kilometers wide and 800 to 1,200 meters deep, reaches surface speeds of about 2.5 meters per second at its fastest, and transports about 30 million cubic meters of water per second through the Florida Straits, a volume that grows to some 150 sverdrups by the time it passes Newfoundland as other currents feed into it along the way.