North Atlantic Drift

North Atlantic Ocean. Surface samples in north Atlantic waters were collected at 20 stations in Tuly-August 1983. The area is influenced mainly by the Gulfstream, the North Atlantic Drift and the much colder East Greenland Current. The surface samples can be grouped into fives areas with common characteristics of temperature, salinity, phosphate and silicate concentrations, Fig. 4 (Kramer, 1986). 

The most intense oceanic sink region for C02 is the North Atlantic. The Gulf Stream and North Atlantic drift transport warm water rapidly northward. As the water cools, C02 solubility increases. In addition, the North Atlantic is biologically the most productive... 

Fig. 1. Major oceanographic features 1. Canary Current, 2. Gulf Stream, 3. North Atlantic Current, 4. Sargasso Sea, 5. North Atlantic Gyre, 6. Labrador Current, 7. Loop Current, 8. North Pacific Gyre, 9. South Equatorial Current, 10. Benguela Current, 11. Humboldt Current, 12. Antilles Current, 13. Florida Current, 14. Brazil Current, 15. Kuroshio, 16. Antarctic West Wind Drift.

In certain regions, the transport and the distribution carried out by sea ice are important processes. This is especially true for the Arctic Ocean where specific processes in the shallow coastal areas of the Eurasian shelf induce the ice, in the course of its formation, to incorporate sediment material from the ocean floor and the water column. The Transpolar Drift distributes the sediment material across the Arctic Ocean all the way to the North Atlantic. Glacio-marine sedimentation covers one-fifth of present day s ocean floor (Lisitzin 1996). 

Once in the ocean, the tides and currents driven by wind control the circulation of shallow water. Seven major currents, shown in Figure 2.1 [27], move water around the globe the West Wind Drift (or the Antarctic Circumpolar Current), East Wind Drift, the North and South Equatorial currents, the Peru Current, the Kuroshio Current, and the Gulf Stream. These currents can move quickly. The Gulf Stream, for example, usually travels at a speed of 3 or 4 knots, which is equivalent to 5.6 to 7.4 kilometers per hour [27]. As these currents spiral through the ocean they form five major gyres the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian Ocean gyres. 

The released oil drifted for an extended period with winds and currents, and affected as far as the north coast of Spain and the Atlantic Coast of France. Approximately 141,000 tons of oil-related waste was collected in Spain and about 18,300 tons in France. 

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