How does the Gulf Stream maintain its warmth all the way across the Atlantic?
It doesnt. The Gulf Streams warmth drops dramatically as it crosses the ocean. As the warm waters move across the North Atlantic, they release huge amounts of heat to the atmosphere. The Streams temperature tells the story says Michael S. McCartney, Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The initial Gulf Stream water is 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius) off the coast of Florida. By the time the Gulf Stream has moved about 1800 miles (3000 kilometers) north up the U.S. coast to Newfoundland, its temperature has dropped to 64 degrees (18 C). When the north branch of the Gulf Stream (the North Atlantic Current, see answer above) passes the northwest British Isles and heads towards Norway, the water has cooled to a chilly 46 degrees (8 C). The waters that begin warm near Florida end up so much cooler by the time they reach Norway that its hard to determine where they came from. The Gulf Steam, however, starts with such a flood of warm water that oceanographe
