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Ocean Current Detour

May 5, 2014

The ocean’s global circulation transports heat around the planet, from the equator to the poles, thus regulating Earth’s climate. Two major cogs in this planetary system are the Gulf Stream-North Atlantic Current, which brings warm waters toward the Arctic, and the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC), which carries cold waters south toward the equator. However, scientists have recently observed that some southward-flowing waters may detour out of the DWBC. Isabela Le Bras, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, is investigating one place where that might be occurring: at the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, where the coastline takes a series of sharp turns.(Illustration by Eric S. Taylor, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)