Where Is the Gulf Stream Located?
A fast and intense Atlantic Ocean current, the Gulf Stream is located along the eastern coast of the United States and begins along the eastern coast of Florida, where it is fed by the Antilles Current. The Gulf Stream follows the coastline up to Newfoundland in Canada. It then crosses the Atlantic and heads to Northern Europe.
The Gulf Stream is an example of a western-boundary current, which can be found on the western side of each of the major ocean basins. The two Northern Hemisphere western-boundary currents, the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and the Kuroshio Current in the Pacific, are more intense than those in the Southern Hemisphere. The Gulf Stream is the result of the Trade Winds and the Westerlies acting upon the North Atlantic Ocean and causing it to rotate clockwise. The rotation of the Earth constrains the flow in the western part of the Atlantic to a narrow strip running up along the U.S. coast.
