Britain and Ireland
The North Atlantic Current of the Gulf Stream, along with similar warm air currents, helps keep Ireland and the western coast of Great Britain a couple of degrees warmer than the east. However the difference is most dramatic in the western coastal islands of Scotland. Plockton, just east of the Isle of Skye, on the west coast of Scotland, has a mild enough climate to support palm-like cabbage trees even though it is a degree further north than Moscow.
Norway
The most spectacular effect of the Gulf Stream and the strong westerly winds (driven by the warm water of the gulf stream) on Europe occurs along the Norwegian coast Northern parts of Norway lie close to the Arctic zone, most of which is covered with ice and snow in winter. But almost all of Norway’s coast—even that part in the Arctic—remains free of ice and snow throughout the winter.
III. Answer the questions:
What is an ocean current?
What are the forces to form ocean currents?
Do ocean currents influence on the climate?
What is the difference between the surface ocean currents and deep ocean currents?
Is the Gulf Stream a deep ocean current or a surface current?
Where does it begin and how does it flow?
How much heat and water does the Gulf Stream transport?
What are the sizes of the Gulf Stream?
Where is the fastest current velocity?
What is evaporative cooling and brine exclusion?
Climate of what countries is influenced by the Gulf Stream? How does it do that?
What ocean currents do you know? Make a list of them.
Do we have any ocean current in our region?
IV. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Prove your point of view.
Ocean currents are rivers of hot or cold water within the ocean.
The driving force of any ocean current is the depth.
Ocean currents are very important in determining the climates of the continents, especially those regions bordering on the ocean.
There is no any difference between the surface and deep ocean currents.
The Gulf Stream is the cold Pacific ocean current.
The Gulf Stream originates not far from Norway and flow to the USA coastline.
The Gulf Stream is the only ocean current on the Earth.
It does not have any influence on the climate.
The Gulf Stream is a strong ocean current, transporting about 1.4 petawatts of heat, equivalent to 100 times the world energy demand.
As it travels north, the warm water transported by the Gulf Stream undergoes evaporative cooling and brine exclusion.
V. What new information have you learned from this article? Have you got anything to add? Discuss it into groups. Chapter V
Solar System
Planets and some dwarf planets of the Solar System;
while the sizes are to scale, the relative distances from the Sun are not.