The North Atlantic Current carries warm, salty tropical surface waters northward and “becomes” the Norwegian Current. The currents surrender heat to the atmosphere, and prevailing winds help warm Europe in winter. As the waters give up their heat, they become colder, and therefore denser, and sink to the depths in the deep basins of the Norwegian, Greenland, and Iceland Seas north of the Denmark Strait. (Ruth Curry/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Cecilie Mauritzen/Norwegian Meteorological Institute)[back]
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