The Gulf Stream

In the Nordic sea areas, the Gulf Stream has been stable for the past 10,000 years.

The Gulf Stream starts at Florida and moves from there towards the North Atlantic. It reaches Europe at Ireland and continues south of England up through the English Channel and further into the North Sea.

The main current runs between Scotland and Iceland and follows the coast of Norway northwards. The Gulf Stream ends up in the Barents Sea, the Arctic Ocean or the Greenland Sea. The current is also called “The North Atlantic Drift”.

The impact of the Gulf Stream

As the Atlantic water flows to the north, heat and moisture are released into the atmosphere. The heat loss causes the surface water to gradually become heavier, and the salinity changes. The changes in salinity are part of the engine of the North Atlantic drift, in that the water becomes heavier.

The special feature of this ocean current is its circulation. There is a vertical circulation, so that deep water is formed to the north and a countercurrent on the bottom to the south.

The enormous water masses, about 4 million cubic metres per hectare. second, emits the same amount of heat per second. day as the world’s total coal consumption in ten years. This means that the temperature in Norway is 4-5 degrees higher than the latitude would indicate. The current helps to ensure a mild climate along the Norwegian coast and in the British Isles.