Current Us Debt

Current Us Debt

Current Us Debt

Surface ocean currents

Wind moves surface water, and in the northern hemisphere the spinning of the earth deflects this movement so that we end up with currents that move in a clockwise circle in the Pacific and North Atlantic. In the Pacific this brings cool surface waters south along the West Coast of America, and in the North Atlantic warm waters are moved north along the East Coast and on to Western Europe.

  • California Current - The California Current is first noticed off southern British Columbia, and is felt as far south as California. This means that the West Coast waters are cooler than those on the East Coast (at the same latitude).

  • Gulf Stream - Warm coastal water flows north up the eastern seaboard and then swing over to keep Northern Europe relatively warm. In Europe the ‘Warm Medieval Period’ was followed by the ‘Little Ice Age’, and it is thought that this was caused by a reduction in the flow of water (the Gulf Stream is thought to have been weaker during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries).
Deep Ocean Currents