Gulfstream - what is it and where is it? and got the best answer
Answer from Denis Nabatchikov[guru]
GULF STREAM, a warm current in the middle latitudes of the northern part Atlantic Ocean moving in a northeasterly direction. The main branch of this current originates in the Gulf of Mexico (hence its name, meaning in translation from in English"current from the bay") and penetrates into the Atlantic through the Strait of Florida; further, the current deviates to the north by the Great Bahama Bank, an underwater platform located southeast of the Florida Peninsula.
Leaving the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf Stream carries large accumulations of floating algae of the genus Sargassum and different types thermophilic fish (including flying ones). Off the east coast of Florida, the boundaries of the Gulf Stream are clear, especially the western one. The sparkling blue of this current contrasts sharply with the greenish-gray colder waters of the North Atlantic.
The current itself is not just a homogeneous mass of a moving ribbon of water. It consists of several streams having approximately the same direction. Near its eastern edge there are numerous right-twisting eddies; some of them are even completely separated from the main stream.
Near the Great Bahama Bank, the Gulf Stream receives a branch of the Northern Equatorial Current and follows in general parallel to the east coast of the United States, but at a small distance from it. It is with the warm waters of this current that the mild winter in Bermuda is associated. Near Cape Hatteras (North Carolina coast), the Gulf Stream turns to the northeast and heads towards the Great Bank of Newfoundland. Here it meets the cold Labrador Current and also comes into contact with colder air coming from the north. As a result, fogs are almost constantly observed in this area. From the Great Newfoundland Bank, the Gulf Stream moves eastward to the shores of Europe (this part of it is called the course of the West Winds). Approximately in the middle of the North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream divides into two currents. One of them follows further east to the shores of Europe, and then, turning south, forms the Canary Current, the other, called the North Atlantic Current, gradually deviates to the left and continues to move to the northeast. This current passes along the western coast of the British Isles, where a branch again separates from it, heading west to the southern coast of Iceland, the Irminger Current. Another part of the North Atlantic Current, the Norwegian Current, follows the coast of Norway.
Answer from Maria Tsvetkova[guru]
I think this is the south current in the sea or ocean
Answer from GüLLi[expert]
this is a cold current like (or maybe warm) somewhere in the ocean =))
Answer from Doom2001[guru]
a warm current in the middle latitudes of the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, moving in a northeasterly direction. The main branch of this current originates in the Gulf of Mexico.
Answer from Anastasia the Great[active]
The Gulf Stream (from the English gulf stream - a current from the bay) is a warm sea current in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of the Gulf Stream, the countries of Europe adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean have a milder climate than regions at a similar geographical latitude: masses of warm water heat the air passing over them, which is transferred to Europe by westerly winds.
Gulfstream
warm current in sowing parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Name Gulfstream (Gulf Stream) from English, gulf "bay", stream "flow" and means letters, "flood current"- it is formed in the Strait of Florida as a waste stream of the Gulf of Mexico. Discovered Spanish navigators at the beginning of the XVI in. and was originally called the Florida Current. The name Gulf Stream was proposed by the Americans. scientist Benjamin Franklin in 1722 G.
Geographical names of the world: Toponymic dictionary. - M: AST.Pospelov E.M. 2001 .
GULF STREAM
system of warm currents in sowing. parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Formed in the south. part of the Strait of Florida, in the ocean it connects with the Antilles Current and moves to the north along the North. America to the Newfoundland Bank, after which it is called the North Atlantic Current. Width up to 200 km, flow thickness 700-800 m, speed 10 km/h.
Brief geographical dictionary.EdwART .2008 .
gulf stream
(gulf stream), the system of warm currents in s.h. Atlantic Ocean, extending over 10 thousand km from the Florida Peninsula to the islands of Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya. Discovered by Spanish navigators at the beginning of the 16th century. and called Florida Current . The name Gulf Stream in 1722 was proposed by B. Franklin. Originates in the south. h. Florida Ave. as a result of a strong surge of trade winds of water into the Gulf of Mexico. through the Yucatan Strait. When entering the ocean, the current capacity is 2160 km³ per day, which is 20 times the flow of all rivers the globe. Going out into the ocean, it connects with the Antilles current and at 38 ° N.l. its power more than triples. Further, G. moves at a speed of 6–10 km / h to the north along the Atlantic coast of the North. America to Bol. Newfoundland Bank, outside of which is called North Atlantic Current . The width of the stream from south to north increases from 75 to 200 km, the thickness is 700–800 m, and the water temperature on the surface decreases from 24–28 to 10–20 °C. G. has a huge impact on the nature of the sowing. part of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent part of the North. the Arctic Ocean, as well as the climate of Europe, creating very mild climatic conditions in temperate and arctic latitudes.
Dictionary of modern geographical names. - Yekaterinburg: U-Factoria.Under the general editorship of Acad. V. M. Kotlyakova.2006 .
gulf stream
system of warm currents in the North Atlantic Ocean. It spreads over 10 thousand km - from the Florida Peninsula to Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya. Originates in the south. part of the Strait of Florida as a result of a strong surge of trade winds of water through the Yucatan Strait into the Gulf of Mexico, which leads to a significant difference in levels between the Gulf of Mexico and the adjacent part of the Atlantic Ocean. When entering the ocean, the current capacity is 2160 km³ per day, which is 20 times higher than the flow rate of all the rivers of the globe. Going out into the ocean, it connects with the Antilles Current, and at 38 ° N. sh. power more than triples.
The Gulf Stream moves to the north at a speed of 6–10 km/h along the Atlantic coast of the North. America to the Great Newfoundland Bank, beyond which is called the North Atlantic Current. Shir. the flow to the south is 75 km, the thickness is 700–800 m, the water temperature on the surface is 24–28 °C; in the region of the Great Newfoundland Bank lat. the flow reaches 200 km, the speed is up to 4 km/h, the water temperature on the surface is 10–20 °C. At the south The cold Labrador Current approaches the outskirts of the Great Newfoundland Bank from the north, which causes mixing and subsidence of surface waters.
Off the coast of Europe, the Gulf Stream is divided into a number of branches. The warm Irminger Current enters the Greenland Sea, bypassing Iceland from the west; The West Greenland current bends around from the south of Greenland and follows along its west. shores in the Baffin Sea; The Norwegian current runs along the west. shores of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and at its north. the tip is separated by the North Cape current, going to the east along the south. parts of the Barents Sea. Main the Gulf Stream continues to the north and runs along the west. coast of Svalbard. To the north, it plunges into the cold waters of the North. Arctic Ocean and is preserved here as a warm and salty intermediate current.
The Gulf Stream has a huge impact on the climate, hydrological and biological conditions of sowing. parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent part of the North. the Arctic Ocean, as well as the climate of Europe, creating very mild conditions for sowing. latitudes. January temperatures deviate from Wed. latitudinal values in Norway by 15–20°, and in Murmansk by more than 10°.
Warm current in the sowing. part of the Atlantic Ocean was discovered in the beginning. 16th century Spanish sailors who named it the Florida Current. The name Gulf Stream was proposed (in 1722) by the American scientist B. Franklin.Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman.Under the editorship of prof. A. P. Gorkina.2006 .
Gulfstream
a warm current in the middle latitudes of the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, moving in a northeasterly direction. The main branch of this current originates in the Gulf of Mexico (whence its name comes from, which means “current from the Gulf” in English) and penetrates into the Atlantic through the Strait of Florida; further, the current deviates to the north by the Great Bahama Bank, an underwater platform located southeast of the Florida Peninsula.
Leaving the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf Stream carries large concentrations of floating algae of the Sargassum genus and various types of thermophilic fish (including flying ones). Off the east coast of Florida, the boundaries of the Gulf Stream are clear, especially the western one. The sparkling blue of this current contrasts sharply with the greenish-gray colder waters of the North Atlantic.
The current itself is not just a homogeneous mass of a moving ribbon of water. It consists of several streams having approximately the same direction. Near its eastern edge there are numerous right-twisting eddies; some of them are even completely separated from the main stream.
Near the Great Bahama Bank, the Gulf Stream receives a branch of the Northern Equatorial Current and follows in general parallel to the east coast of the United States, but at a small distance from it. It is with the warm waters of this current that the mild winter in Bermuda is associated. Near Cape Hatteras (North Carolina coast), the Gulf Stream turns to the northeast and heads towards the Great Bank of Newfoundland. Here it meets the cold Labrador Current and also comes into contact with colder air coming from the north. As a result, fogs are almost constantly observed in this area. From the Great Newfoundland Bank, the Gulf Stream moves eastward to the shores of Europe (this part of it is called the course of the West Winds). Approximately in the middle of the North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream divides into two currents. One of them follows further east to the shores of Europe, and then, turning south, forms the Canary Current, the other, called the North Atlantic Current, gradually deviates to the left and continues to move to the northeast. This current passes along the western coast of the British Isles, where a branch again separates from it, heading west to the southern coast of Iceland, the Irminger Current. Another part of the North Atlantic Current, the Norwegian Current, follows the coast of Norway.Encyclopedia Around the World.2008 .
GULF STREAM, (eng. Gulf Stream, literally - the course of the bay), a warm current in the North Atlantic. In a broad sense, a powerful system of warm currents, stretching for 10,000 km from the shores of the Florida peninsula to the islands of Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya, is called hydrogeology. G. proper begins in the southern part of the Strait of Florida as a waste current of the Gulf of Mexico at its confluence with the waters of the Antilles Current and continues to the Great Newfoundland Bank. The reason for its origin is a large surge of trade winds of water through the Yucatan Strait into the Gulf of Mexico and the resulting significant level difference between the Gulf of Mexico and the adjacent part of the Atlantic Ocean. When entering the ocean, the current capacity is 25 million m³ / s. (2160 km³ per day), which is 20 times the flow of all rivers in the world. In the ocean, it merges with the Antilles current, and the thickness of the galaxies also increases by 38°N. sh. Reaches 82 million m³/sec. One of the features of hydrogeography is that, in violation of the general pattern of movement in the Northern Hemisphere, this current, upon entering the ocean, deviates not to the right under the influence of the force of the Earth's rotation, but to the left. In the ocean, G. moves in a northerly direction, along the edge of the continental shelf North America, and at Cape Hatteras it deviates to the northeast, to the Newfoundland Bank. After passing it, at about 40° W. d., G. proper passes into the North Atlantic Current, which, under the influence of western and southwestern winds, crosses the ocean from east to west, gradually changing direction off the coast of Europe to the northeast. When approaching the port of Thomson, a branch is separated from the North Atlantic Current - the warm Irminger Current, which partially enters the Greenland Sea, skirting Iceland from the west, but moves westward in its main mass, skirts Greenland from the south and follows along its western coast called the West Greenland Current in the Baffin Sea. The main flow of the North Atlantic Current continues into the Norwegian Sea and follows north along the western coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula under the name of the Norwegian Current. At the northern tip of the Scandinavian Peninsula, a branch separates from it - the North Cape Current, which follows east along the southern part of the Barents Sea. The main stream of the Norwegian Current continues north and, under the name of the Svalbard Current, runs along the western coast of Svalbard. North of Svalbard, this current sinks to depths and can be traced in the Arctic Ocean under cold and fresh surface waters as a warm and salty intermediate current. The width of the sea in different parts of the sea is 75–200 km, the flow thickness is 700–800 m, the speed is 80–300 cm/sec, and the water temperature on the surface is from 10 to 28°C. The system of warm water currents has a great influence on the hydrological and biological characteristics of both the seas and the Arctic Ocean itself, and on the climate of the countries of Europe adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. Masses of warm water heat the air passing over them, which is carried by western winds to Europe (southern trees grow in the west of Norway at the latitude of Magadan). One of the branches of the Gulf Stream - the North Cape Current - reaches the Kola Peninsula, allowing the Kola Bay and the seaports on Murman, in particular, not to freeze (the air temperature in Murmansk deviates from the average values at this latitude up to 11ºС).
In Russia, for the first time after studies of the temperature regime of the Barents Sea, F. F. Yarzhinsky announced the passage of the river along the Murmansk coast at a meeting of the Russian Geographical Society in 1870 (previously there was a hypothesis by the German geographer A. Peterman). Subsequent observations by Academician A.F. Middendorf confirmed his data, although the capital was of the opinion that "there is no Gulfstrom and cannot be." N. M. Knipovich with employees of the Murmansk scientific and fishing expedition (1898–1908) discovered 4 branches of the North Cape warm current in the Barents Sea. The southern, Murmansk, ran parallel to the coast of the Kola Peninsula, then splitting into two jets (to Novaya Zemlya and the Kaninsky shallow water). The expedition established a connection between the migration of juveniles of bottom rocks and their accumulation on the shallows and banks with warm water jets, and it was proposed to expand the fishing area. New opportunities in the study of geometry opened up in the middle of the 20th century. with the advent of more advanced scientific equipment.
Lit .: Middendorf A.F. Gulfstrem to the east of the North Cape. - St. Petersburg, 1871; Shuleikin VV Physics of the sea. - M., 1953; Stommel G. Gulfstream. - M., 1963; Gershman, I.G., The Gulf Stream and Its Influence on the Climate, Meteorology and Hydrology. 1939. No. 7–8.
Scheme of heat transfer by the course of the Gulf Stream Group:
- Climate; atmosphere
GLOSSARY > G
THEMATIC INDEX > SCIENCE > Natural (mathematics, physics, geography, geology, chemistry, biology, marine studies, etc.)
THEME INDEX > NATURE > Water resources (seas, rivers, lakes, bays)
THEMATIC INDEX > NATURE > Climate; atmosphere
The Gulf Stream is a powerful warm Atlantic current. The influence of the Gulf Stream is noticeable even in the Arctic Ocean in the form of the North Cape and Norwegian currents. The Gulf Stream is responsible for the unstable weather conditions in the area. GULF STREAM, a warm current in the middle latitudes of the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, moving in a northeasterly direction. The fastest current in the Atlantic, the Gulf Stream, is one of the most powerful forces of nature.
The flow of water by the Gulf Stream is about 50 million cubic meters of water every second, which is 20 times more than the flow of all the rivers of the world combined. Locally, in each separate region, the direction and nature of the current are also determined by the outline of the continents, the temperature regime, the distribution of salinity, and other factors.
The Gulf Stream in a broad sense is the entire system of warm currents in the North Atlantic, the core and main driving force of which is the Gulf Stream.
It is known that north of Cape Hatteras the Gulf Stream loses its stability. It exhibits quasi-periodic fluctuations with a period of 1.5-2 years, similar to those of a jet stream in the atmosphere, known as the index cycle. Taking into account the impact of the Gulf Stream on the climate, it is assumed that in the short-term historical perspective, a climatic catastrophe is possible due to the disruption of the current.
In particular, according to the doctor of geographical sciences, oceanologist A. L. Bondarenko, “the mode of operation of the Gulf Stream will not change.” This is argued by the fact that the actual transfer of water does not occur, that is, the flow is a Rossby wave. It carries heated water masses from indian ocean and south Atlantic to the northwestern coast of Europe.
But the North Atlantic Golf Stream can't explain all the disappearances.
Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the countries of Europe adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean have a milder climate compared to regions lying at the same geographical latitude. Over the North Atlantic, westerly winds take heat from warm water masses and are transferred to Europe.
This current is directed in a narrow stream along the coast of North America. An additional factor of deflection to the east is the Coriolis force. The continuation of the Gulf Stream to the northeast of the Great Newfoundland Bank is the North Atlantic Current.
Now the Gulf Stream for Europe and the USA is a generous gift of nature to their economies and populations.
The northern hemisphere weather kitchen is located in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. The Gulf Stream plays the role of a heating system in it, it is also called the “stove of Europe”. The colder and denser Labrador current "dives" under the warmer and lighter current of the Gulf Stream, without preventing it from heating Europe.
The density of the waters of the Labrador Current is only 0.1% higher than the density of the waters of the Gulf Stream. As a result, the Barents Sea does not freeze all year round, while palm trees grow in Europe and houses with cardboard walls are built. If suddenly the Labrador Current becomes equal in density to the Gulf Stream, then it will rise closer to the surface of the ocean and block its movement to the north. All arrived. We get a diagram of the currents of the ice age.
A study of the ice in Greenland shows that climate change processes can occur within three to ten years. The air temperature in Europe in these few years will be equal to the Siberian one. Now giant slicks of oil have been discovered in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Oil has been pouring out for several months from a well drilled by BP at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
Along with it, the Norwegian Current also disappeared. The shutdown of the Gulf Stream was first reported in August 2010 by Dr. Zangari, a theoretical physicist from Italy. The average water temperature in the north of the Gulf Stream has dropped by 10 degrees.
The Gulf Stream is a warm current in the Gulf of Mexico that goes around Florida, flows along the east coast of the United States to about 37 degrees N. and then breaks off the coast to the east
Letters come to the editorial office with a request to clarify whether the warm current will really disappear soon. Similar trends exist in pacific ocean- Kuroshio, and southern hemisphere.
For the same reason North hemisphere generally slightly warmer than the South. The root cause of this unusual North Atlantic is that the water over the Atlantic Ocean evaporates a little more than it falls in the form of precipitation.
In place of the water that has sunk into the depths, water from the south comes to the North Atlantic, this is the North Atlantic Current. Thus, the causes of the North Atlantic Current are global, and they are unlikely to be significantly affected by such a local event as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
But such a magnitude of seasonal anomalies is quite common and is observed in a particular region almost every year. Reports that the Gulf Stream between the 76th and 47th meridians in 2010 became colder by 10 degrees Celsius are not confirmed either. But the ice continued to melt, and at some point the water from the lake began to flow into the North Atlantic, freshening it and thereby preventing the water from sinking and the North Atlantic Current.
The continuation of the Gulf Stream is the North Atlantic Current, which carries a stream cooled in the north to the Southern Hemisphere. Changing the continuity of the Gulf Stream in scientific circles is a topic for discussion. Several factors are involved in the emergence and direction of the Gulf Stream. Almost a third is in the path of the Gulf Stream. The first is the Gulf Stream itself - an ocean current along the east coast of North America up to 90 kilometers wide and at a speed of up to several meters per second.
Oceans, lakes and rivers
The Gulf Stream
In Western Europe, as well as on the east coast of the United States, the climate is quite mild. So on the coast of Florida, the average water temperature is very rarely below 22 ° Celsius. This is during the winter months. In summer, the air heats up to 36°-39° Celsius with humidity reaching 100%. This temperature regime extends far to the east and north. It covers the states: Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, and North and South Carolina.
All these administrative formations lie in the region of a humid subtropical climate, where the summer average daily temperature does not fall below 25 ° Celsius, and in the winter months it drops to 0 ° Celsius very rarely.
If we take Western Europe, then the Iberian, Apennine and Balkan Peninsulas, as well as the entire southern part France are located in the subtropical zone. The summer temperature in it fluctuates between 26°-28° Celsius. In winter, these figures drop to 2°-5° Celsius, but almost never reach 0°.
In Scandinavia, the average winter temperature ranges from minus 4° to 2° Celsius. In the summer months it rises to 8°-14°. That is, even in the northern regions, the climate is quite acceptable and suitable for comfortable living.
The Gulf Stream
This temperature grace takes place in a vast region for a reason. It is directly connected with the Gulf Stream ocean current. It is he who forms the climate and gives people the opportunity to enjoy warm weather almost all year round.
The Gulf Stream is a whole system of warm currents in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Its total length covers a distance of 10 thousand kilometers from the sultry coast of Florida to the ice-covered islands of Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya. Huge masses of water begin their movement in the Strait of Florida. Their volume reaches 25 million cubic meters per second.
The Gulf Stream moves slowly and majestically along the east coast of North America and crosses 40°N. sh. Near the island of Newfoundland, it meets the Labrador Current. The latter carries cold waters to the south and causes warm water flows to turn east.
After such a collision, the Gulf Stream splits into two currents. One rushes north and turns into the North Atlantic Current. It is this that forms the climate in Western Europe. The remaining mass reaches the coast of Spain and turns south. Off the coast of Africa, it meets the North Trade Wind Current and deviates west, ending its journey in the Sargasso Sea, from which it is within easy reach of the Gulf of Mexico. Then the cycle of huge masses of water is repeated.
This has been going on for thousands of years. Sometimes a mighty warm current weakens, slows down, reduces heat transfer, and then cold falls to the ground. An example of this is the Little Ice Age. Europeans observed it in the XIV-XIX centuries. Every heat-loving inhabitant of Europe has experienced on his own skin what a real frosty snowy winter is.
True, before that, in the VIII-XIII centuries, there was a noticeable warming. In other words, the Gulf Stream was gaining strength and giving off a very large amount of heat into the atmosphere. Accordingly, on the lands of the European continent, the weather was very warm, and snowy cold winters have not been observed for centuries.
Today, the mighty warm currents of water also affect the climate as they did in former times. Nothing has changed under the sun and the laws of nature have remained the same. That's just a man in his technical progress stepped very far. His relentless activity triggered the Greenhouse Effect.
The result was the melting of the ice of Greenland and the Arctic Ocean. Huge masses of fresh water poured into the salty waters and rushed south. Today, this situation is already beginning to affect the mighty warm current. Some experts predict the imminent stop of the Gulf Stream, since he will not be able to cope with the influx of alien waters. This will entail a sharp cooling in Western Europe and on the east coast of North America.
The situation was aggravated by the largest accident at the Tiber oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. Under water in the bowels of the earth, geologists have found huge reserves of oil, estimated at 1.8 billion tons. Experts drilled a well, the depth of which was 10,680 meters. Of these, 1259 meters were in the ocean water column. In April 2010, a fire broke out on an oil platform. It blazed for two days and claimed the lives of 11 people. But it was, though tragic, but a prelude to what happened after that.
The burnt platform sank, and oil began to flow out of the well into the open ocean. According to official sources, 700 tons of oil per day entered the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. However, independent experts named a different figure - 13.5 thousand tons per day.
The oil film, huge in its area, fettered the movement of Atlantic waters, and this, accordingly, began to negatively affect heat transfer. Hence there was a violation in the circulation of the air currents of the Atlantic. They no longer had the strength to move east and form the usual mild climate there.
The result was a terrible heat wave in Eastern Europe in the summer of 2010, when the air temperature rose to 45° Celsius. Provoked similar winds from North Africa. They, not meeting any resistance on their way, brought a hot and dry cyclone to the north. He hovered over a vast territory and stayed above it for almost two months, destroying all life.
At the same time, terrible floods shook Western Europe, as the heavy, moisture-filled clouds coming from the Atlantic did not have enough strength to break through the dry and hot front. They were forced to dump tons of water on the ground. All this provoked a sharp rise in the level of rivers and, as a result, various catastrophes and human tragedies.
What are the immediate prospects, and what awaits old Europe in the near future? Experts say that the cardinal climate change will begin to be felt in 2020. Western Europe is waiting for a cooling and rising sea levels. This will provoke the impoverishment of the middle class, as their money is invested in real estate, which will plummet in value.
This will create political and social tensions in all sectors of society. The consequences of this can be the most tragic. It is simply impossible to predict something specific, since there are many scenarios for the development of events. One thing is clear: hard times are coming.
The current of the Gulf Stream, today, thanks to global warming and the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, has practically closed in a ring and does not provide sufficient thermal energy to the North Atlantic Current. Accordingly, the air flow is disturbed. Over the European territory, completely different winds begin to dominate. The usual climatic balance is disturbed - this is already noticeable with a simple eye.
In such a situation, anyone can feel a sense of anxiety and hopelessness. Of course, not for the fate of hundreds of millions of people, since this is too vague and unclear, but for the specific fate of their relatives and friends. But to despair, and even more so to panic, is premature. How it will actually be - no one knows.
The future is full of surprises. It is entirely possible that global warming is not global warming at all. This is a normal rise in temperatures within the climate cycle. Its duration is 60 years. That is, for six decades the temperature on the planet has been steadily increasing, and for the next 60 years it is slowly decreasing. The beginning of the last cycle dates back to the end of 1979. It turns out that half of the way has already been passed and only 30 years are left to endure.
The Gulf Stream is too powerful a stream of water to simply change direction or disappear like that. There may be some failures and deviations, but they will never turn into global and irreversible processes. There are simply no prerequisites for this. At least these days, they don't.
Yuri Syromyatnikov
Education
A warm current is ... The main characteristics of currents. The most famous warm currents
The warm current is the Gulf Stream, El Niño, Kuroshio. What other currents exist? Why are they called warm? Read more about it.
Where do currents come from?
Currents are directed flows of water masses. They can have different widths and depths - from a few meters to hundreds of kilometers. Their speed can reach up to 9 km / h. The direction of water flows determines the force of rotation of our planet. Thanks to her, in the Southern Hemisphere, the currents deviate to the right, and in the Northern Hemisphere - to the left.
Many conditions influence the formation and nature of currents. The reason for their appearance may be the wind, the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun, different density and temperature, the level of the waters of the oceans. Most often, several factors contribute to the formation of currents at once.
There is a neutral, cold and warm current in the ocean. They are determined as such not because of the temperature of their own water masses, but because of the difference with the temperature of the surrounding waters. This means that the current can be warm, even if its waters are considered cold by many indicators. For example, the Gulf Stream is warm, although its temperature ranges from 4 to 6 degrees, and the temperature of the cold Benguela Current is up to 20 degrees.
A warm current is one that forms near the equator. They form in warm waters and migrate to colder ones. In turn, cold currents move towards the equator. Neutral currents are those that do not differ in temperature from the surrounding waters.
warm currents
Currents affect the climate of coastal areas. Warm water streams warm the waters of the ocean. They contribute to a mild climate, high humidity and a large number precipitation. On the shores, next to which warm waters flow, forests form. There are such warm currents of the World Ocean:
Pacific Basin
- East Australian.
- Alaskan.
- Kuroshio.
- El Nino.
Indian Ocean basin
Atlantic Ocean basin
- Irminger.
- Brazilian.
- Guiana.
- Gulfstream.
- North Atlantic.
Arctic Ocean Basin
- West Spitsbergen.
- Norwegian.
- West Greenland.
Related videos
Gulfstream
The warm Atlantic current, one of the largest in the Northern Hemisphere, is the Gulf Stream. It begins in the Gulf of Mexico, flows through the Florida Strait into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and moves in a northeasterly direction.
The current carries a lot of floating algae and various fish. Its width reaches up to 90 kilometers, and the temperature is 4-6 degrees Celsius. The waters of the Gulf Stream have a bluish tint, contrasting with the surrounding greenish ocean water. It is not homogeneous, and consists of several streams, which can be separated from the general flow.
The Gulf Stream is a warm current. Meeting with the cold Labrador current in the Newfoundland area, it contributes to the frequent formation of fogs on the coast. In the very center of the North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream separates, forming the Canary and North Atlantic currents.
El Niño
El Niño is also a warm current - the most powerful current. It is not constant and occurs every few years. Its appearance is accompanied by a sharp increase in water temperature in the surface layers of the ocean. But this is not the only sign of the current El Niño.
Other warm currents of the World Ocean can hardly be compared with the power of influence of this “baby” (as the name of the current is translated). Along with warm waters, the current brings with it heavy winds and hurricanes, fires, droughts, and prolonged rains. Residents of coastal areas are suffering from the damage caused by El Niño. Huge areas are flooded, which leads to the death of crops and livestock.
The current is formed in the Pacific Ocean, in its equatorial part. It stretches along the coasts of Peru and Chile, replacing the cold Humboldt Current. When El Niño occurs, fishermen also suffer. Its warm waters trap cold waters (which are rich in plankton) and prevent them from rising to the surface. In this case, the fish does not come to these areas to feed themselves, leaving the fishermen without a catch.
Kuroshio
In the Pacific Ocean, another warm current is the Kuroshio. It flows near the eastern and southern coasts of Japan. Often the current is defined as a continuation of the Northern Trade Wind. The main reason for its formation is the difference in levels between the ocean and the East China Sea.
Flowing between the straits of Ryukkyu Island, Kuroshio becomes the North Pacific Current, which passes into the Alaska Current off the coast of America.
It has similar features to the Gulf Stream. It forms a whole system of warm currents in the Pacific Ocean, like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. Due to this, Kuroshio is an important climate-forming factor, softening the climate of coastal areas. The current also has a strong influence on the water area, being an important hydrobiological factor.
The waters of the Japanese current are characterized by a dark blue color, hence its name "Kuroshio", which translates as "black current" or "dark water". The current reaches a width of 170 kilometers, and its depth is about 700 meters. Kuroshio's speed ranges from 1 to 6 km/h. The water temperature of the current is 25 -28 degrees in the south and about 15 degrees in the north.
Conclusion
The formation of currents is influenced by many factors, and sometimes their combination.
A warm current is one whose temperature exceeds the temperature of the surrounding waters. In this case, the water during the course can be quite cold. The most famous warm currents are the Gulf Stream, which flows in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Pacific Currents Kuroshio and El Niño. The latter occurs periodically, bringing with it a chain of environmental disasters.
Separate currents in the oceans are combined into systems included in the general basin cycle. The most famous is the Gulf Stream. This name is translated into Russian as the Current from the Gulf. It has been preserved from those distant times, when it is believed that the current arises as a stream of water rushing from the bay through the Strait of Florida to. It is now known that only a small fraction of the Gulf Stream's waters are carried out of the bay. The current emerging from there is now preferred to be called the Florida. The ocean current, reaching the latitude of Cape Hatteras on the coast, receives a powerful inflow from. This is where the actual Gulf Stream begins, a mighty "river in the ocean", going to a depth of 700 - 800 m and reaching a width of 110 - 120 km. One more feature of the Gulf Stream was noted: upon entering the ocean, it does not deviate to the right, as it should be in the Northern Hemisphere under the influence of the Earth's rotation, but to the left! This is the result of an elevated level of the ocean in its subtropical part. The average temperature of the surface layers of the current is 25 - 26 ° (at a depth of about 400 m - only 10 - 12 °). However, in the Gulf Stream, at a distance of the length of the ship's hull, there are large temperature differences, reaching 10 °, and a change in color and transparency sea water happening right before our eyes.
In the surface layer of the current, a core of high-temperature waters is usually found, most pronounced at the very surface of the ocean, and a core of high-temperature waters with a center at depths of 100–200 m. This feature can be traced down to the Big Bank. Thus, the notion of the Gulf Stream as a very warm current passing through colder waters is valid only for the surface layer, but even in it the warmest waters are only a few degrees higher than the surface temperature of the waters of the Sargasso Sea.
The surface velocities of the Gulf Stream itself can reach 2.0 - 2.6 m/s. Even at depths of about 2 km, they are still significant: 10 - 20 cm/s. At the exit from the Strait of Florida, the current capacity is 25 million m3/s (and this value is more than 20 times the flow rate of all the rivers of the planet); after the joining of the Antilles Current (from the Sargasso Sea), the flow capacity increases to 106 million m/s.
And now such a mighty stream rushes to the northeast to the Great Newfoundland Bank. From here, the Gulf Stream, as well as the Slope Current that separates from it, turns south, joining the North Atlantic gyre. And across the ocean, to the east, towards the North Atlantic current rushes, which is sometimes considered part of the secondary oceanic.
In 2010, the world community was shocked by terrible news: the Gulf Stream, our planet's temperature regulator, could stop! To understand the scale of the coming catastrophe, it is enough to know that the temporary stoppage of the current 14 thousand years ago led to the Little Ice Age. But what exactly is the Gulf Stream, and why is its circulation so important to the Earth's climate?
The name comes from English expression golf stream, which literally translates as "a current from the bay." This is conventionally called a warm current along the eastern coast of North America, but in fact the concept is somewhat broader: by the Gulf Stream they mean a whole system branched out in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Its movement is due to the daily rotation of the Earth. Powerful jets 70-90 km wide reach speeds of up to several meters per second. It is noteworthy that even hundreds of nuclear power plants cannot generate the same amount of heat as the Gulf Stream.
Why do palm trees grow in the north
The Gulf Stream originates in the heated Gulf of Mexico, from there it rolls warm waters in the Florida Current, in the Bahamas it connects with the Antilles Current and flows into the ocean. At the level of the island, Newfoundland mixes with the cold Labrador Current, which contributes to active evaporation - which is why the surrounding regions are so humid and foggy. And the climate of the Old World, thanks to this feature of the Gulf Stream, becomes mild - in other countries at the same latitudes, but deprived of such a current nearby, meadows do not turn green and heat-loving plants do not grow. For example, in Normandy, the same palm trees feel quite at ease, and the coast of the mainland does not turn into tundra. And the Northern Hemisphere itself is warmer than the Southern.
With its average water temperature of 26 degrees, it is ideal for many species of fish and whales. Microorganisms that serve as their food, thanks to the flows, fall directly into the greedily open mouths.
new ice age
Unfortunately, the predictions of scientists about the Gulf Stream are not comforting. The current gradually slows down and becomes unstable. This entails a sharp change in climate: Finland is languishing from the heat, but snow falls on the Côte d'Azur. Natural disasters like tsunamis, tornadoes and floods are becoming more frequent. That is why environmentalists sounded the alarm after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: harmful chemical substances changed the viscosity and salinity of the water, which affected its flow. Apparently, the fantasies of Hollywood directors may well come true - without the Gulf Stream, the Earth will have an unclear future in the conditions of a new ice age.
But not only the processing of "black gold" harms the ecosystem of the Gulf Stream. So-called the greenhouse effect, arising from active and reckless technological progress, leads to the melting of the ice of the Arctic Ocean and, accordingly, the appearance of alien waters in the Gulf Stream. How much he will cope with them and how their neighborhood will turn out is a matter of time.
In 2010, Dr. Gianluigi Zangari, a theoretical physicist at the Frascati Institute in Italy, was the first to announce a possible shutdown of the Gulf Stream. Later, the researchers confirmed that the current had changed its direction: now it is moving away from the island of Svalbard and turning towards Greenland. Thus, if the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere continues to rise, then the circulation of water will indeed stop. Let's hope that scientists will not allow this ecological tragedy. Mankind (and specifically each of us) must be aware of the scale of the problem and solve environmental issues - the most important and most urgent.
ETHNOMIR, Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Petrovo village
Everything that is in ETHNOMIR visually, colorfully and accessible introduces children to the culture or history, sights or climate, ethnic groups or flora and fauna of the region, which contributes to fixing information through the impression, which means that the knowledge gained in ETHNOMIR will be well absorbed by children and will remain in their memory for life.
A visit to the pavilions of the Street of Peace, ethnic dwellings, park museums and petting zoos in an accessible and visual form complements school curriculum, and the rides and the sea of outdoor entertainment make the rest in the park not only educational, but also very fun!
ETNOMIR offers many options for programs for schoolchildren. One of the most popular - which includes an excursion and a visit to the zoo in the park.