Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is a fast- flowing ocean current in the Atlantic Ocean. He is part of a global maritime flow system, the global conveyor belt. In the direction of Europe, the Gulf Stream becomes the North Atlantic Current. He is part of the western boundary flow and affects the climate in Northern Europe.

The Gulf Stream transports about 30 ∙ 106 cubic meters of water per second (30 Sv) at the Florida current, at a speed of 1.8 m / s, and up to a maximum of 1.5 ∙ 108 cubic meters of water (150 Sv) at 55 ° West. That's more than one hundred times as much water as flows on all the world's rivers into the sea. It transports about 1.5 petawatt power. This represents the net power of about two million modern large nuclear power plants.

The name Gulf Stream was coined by Benjamin Franklin and refers to the Gulf of Mexico. Previously he was also called "Florida Power " on the maps of the 16th and 17th century, he is called Canal de Bahama.

Course

As the actual Gulf Stream, the ocean current between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, referred to about 2500 km to the east of it in the Atlantic. Its origins are the Florida Current and the Antilles Current.

The Florida Current is the continuation of the Caribbean flow and thus the Südäquatorialstroms, which is the main source of water of the Gulf Stream. The Caribbean flow flows through the narrow passage of the strait between Cuba and Yucatan in the Gulf of Mexico. This flow, now called Loop Current ( loop current ), then passes through the Gulf clockwise and then pressed back by an even narrower passage between Cuba and Florida in the Atlantic.

North of the Bahamas unite Florida Power and Antilles Current to the actual Gulf Stream. In the Gulf of Mexico he has fueled a lot of warmth and first moves as about 100 to 200 km wide band along the coast of North America. In the vicinity of Cape Hatteras, the Gulf Stream triggers a beam current of the coast and flows east into the North American Basin and the open Atlantic (due to the geographical conditions below the water surface ).

The current is unstable due to the Ostwendung, it meanders and rings detach from the Gulf Stream. On his way across the Atlantic, parts split off and flow back into southern or western directions. The transported water mass is reduced by this division of the flow and loses by evaporation and thermal energy.

On his way to the Gulf Stream transports large amounts of plastic waste. The waste originates among other things, from the waste of the ships' crews. Even rivers wash large amounts of plastic in the oceans.

Formation

The Gulf Stream is part of the global thermohaline circulation. The flow is caused by differences in density, which in turn are due to differences in the water temperature and salinity. With the emergence of the Gulf Stream also the atmospheric circulation and the increasing northward Coriolis force effect on the movement of water plays a very important role.

Trade winds

The pressure prevailing in the tropical Atlantic trade winds pushing large amounts of warm water from the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The coast of North America acts like a dam and the water can flow away along the coast to the north.

Distraction of Labrador Current and the Coriolis force

In addition to meeting with the Labrador Current, the Coriolis force ensures that the water masses flowing northward toward Europe are distracted.

Fauna

The temperature of the Gulf Stream and its flow have a major influence on the ecology of the fauna of the Atlantic. The drifting with the flow plankton food source for many animals. This lure back to predators in the food chain. The submarine ground structures affected by the Gulf Stream and are partially formed, providing the habitat of fauna.

Research

1969 took the submersible Ben Franklin ( PX -15) under Jacques Piccard as project a four-week drift ride in the Gulf Stream, while the was to turn to the six -man crew. The boat dived off Florida and put 2400 km back up off Nova Scotia.

2005 saw an essay by the British oceanographer Harry Bryden stir postulated a sharp weakening of the Gulf Stream. However, measurements of the Gulf Stream in the Labrador Sea and east of the Caribbean under the auspices of the IFM - GEOMAR could not support Bryden's conclusions. However, while providing the Kiel researchers found very considerable fluctuations, but could not from these long-term trends derived.

Regularly surface in the media on such panic messages that the Gulf Stream weakens and makes Europe are experiencing a new Ice Age at worst, as thematized the movie The Day After Tomorrow 2004. First, this was hypothesized in 1855 in a book of oceanographic naval officer and hydro Count Matthew Fontaine Maury and adheres since been a myth among the metaphor "Europe's central heating ". As the climatologist Richard Seager detail represented by the Lamont - Doherty Earth Observatory in 2002 in a detailed study, the actual influence of the Gulf Stream on European climate but rather minimal compared to air currents and local oceanic heat capacity.