Oceans Control Global Weather

By pumping massive amounts of heat through the oceans, vast ocean currents control weather and climate on land.

American statesman, inventor, and scientist Benjamin Franklin conducted the first scientific investigation of the Gulf Stream at 1770 and discovered its importance to Earth’s weather

and climate. His work launched scientific study of ocean currents, ocean temperature, the

interaction of ocean current with winds, and the effect of ocean currents on climate. Franklin’s discoveries mark the beginnings of modern oceanographic science.

The Atlantic Ocean’s Gulf Stream is the most important of our world’s ocean currents.

It is a major heat engine, carrying massive amounts of warm water north to warm Europe. It

has directed the patterns of ocean exploration and commerce and may be a major determinant of the onset of ice ages. Finally, it is the key to understanding global circulation patterns and the interconnectedness of the world’s oceans, weather, and climates.

The Gulf Stream is bigger than the combined flow of the Mississippi, the Nile, the Congo, the Amazon, the Volga, the Yangtze,and virtually every other major river in the world.