The Gulf Stream moves at an average of four miles per hour (6.4 kilometers per hour). That may not sound fast, but this current carries more water than all of the world's rivers put together.
The Gulf Stream swirls surface waters in an infrared image from the Suomi NPP satellite on April 16, 2013, centered about 290 kilometers (180 miles) due east of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The current is the Atlantic's main conveyor of heat from south to north. Credit: NOAA.
Where it flows
The Gulf Stream is an intense, warm ocean current in the western North Atlantic. It runs north along the coast of Florida, turns eastward off North Carolina, and then flows northeast across the Atlantic.
Its speed, from fastest to slowest
| Where | Speed |
|---|---|
| Near the surface, at its fastest | about nine kilometers per hour (5.6 miles per hour) |
| On average | four miles per hour (6.4 kilometers per hour) |
| Farther north, where it widens | about 1.6 kilometers per hour (one mile per hour) |
The current is fastest near the surface, and it slows as it spreads out on its way north.
Sources
Based on "How fast is the Gulf Stream?" from NOAA's National Ocean Service, a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from oceanservice.noaa.gov
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