14. What is the source of the Gulf Stream? 



The Gulf Stream received its name because of the misconception that 

 its source was the Gulf of Mexico. It is now known that water of the 

 Gulf contributes very little to the flow of the Gulf Stream, 



Two currents, the North and the South Equatorial Currents, join 

 to flow through the passages between the Windward Islands into the 

 Caribbean Sea. The resultant current, flowing through the Yucatan 



Channel, has only one outlet be- 

 tween Florida and Cuba. Off the 

 southern coast of Florida, other 

 currents coming from the north- 

 ern coast of Puerto Rico and east- 

 ward from the Bahamas add to 

 the flow of the Gulf Stream. 



Bowditch, Nathaniel 



American Practical Navigator, U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office, 



1958. 

 Stommel, Henry 



The Gulf Stream, University of California Press, 1958. 

 U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office 



Science and the Sea, Washington, D. C, 1967. 



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