The
Florida Current is a strong oceanic current flowing northward
along the eastern coast of Florida carrying warm tropical
waters that eventually feed the Gulf Stream. The Florida
Current represents both the western boundary current for
the subtropical wind-driven gyre as well as a return pathway
for the Thermohaline Overturning Cell, which consists of
a slow circulation redistributing the waters of the world
ocean based on sinking at the high latitudes and upwelling
elsewhere. The Thermohaline Overturning Cell has been documented
to have strong impacts on the global climate, and as such
variations in the Florida Current, which returns surface
waters to the northern North Atlantic, represent an important
climate signal to be monitored. Since 1982, NOAA has recognized
the importance of long-term monitoring of the Florida Current
and it has funded a project to monitor the transport variations
of the current using a submarine cable and snapshot estimates
made by shipboard instruments. This webpage presents the
results of this study.