World Wide Web Site created by
Midshipman Pamela Phillips, US Naval Academy
and
Richard Gasparovic, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University

The Gulf Stream forms the western boundary of the North Atlantic gyre, around which the currents flow in a clockwise direction. The Gulf Stream system begins on the eastern side of the Gulf of Mexico, flows through the Florida Straits, and then along the southeastern coast of the United States to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. From Cape Hatteras, the Stream flows eastward away from the coast, into deeper water as it proceeds toward Europe. Although its path is lengthy and has many segments, the Gulf Stream is considered to be a single current system.

The Gulf Stream is typically 80 to 150 kilometers wide and extends to a depth of about 800 to 1200 meters. The fastest current in the Gulf Stream is near the surface and the speed decreases with depth. The maximum current speed is usually observed to be about 2 m/sec. There is a very distinct vertical temperature structure within the Gulf Stream. A permanent thermocline exists beneath the Stream sloping upward from the right to the left side of the current. This thermocline separates the warm water of the Gulf Steam from the cold Slope water and the boundary is often referred to as the Cold Wall or North Wall. The North Wall makes it easy to identify the position of the Gulf Stream in satellite infrared images by observing the strong sea surface temperature gradient.

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