Coursing through the Atlantic Ocean is a powerful current with a force 300 times that of the mighty Amazon. Ulanski explores the fascinating science and history of this sea highway known as the Gulf Stream, a watery wilderness that stretches from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic. Spanning both distance and time, Ulanski's investigation reveals how the Gulf Stream affects and is affected by every living thing that encounters it--from tiny planktonic organisms to giant bluefin tuna, from ancient mariners to big-game anglers. He examines the scientific discovery of ocean circulation, the role of ocean currents in the settlement of the New World, and the biological life teeming in the stream.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.

This publication explores the extraordinary natural phenomenon of the Gulf Stream effect, tracing its historical discovery and exploration, outlining its causes and dynamics, and examining its profound importance for the marine ecosystems of the Atlantic Ocean.

It so happens that ever since childhood I have been in love with ocean currents, in love with those rivers hidden in the water.' As a child in Brehat, an island off the coast of Brittany, Erik Orsenna was told to give thanks for the Gulf Stream, the Atlantic Ocean current that brings warmth to the waters of Europe and gives us our relatively benign climate. It is his passion and concern for the Gulf Stream that is the motivation behind this book, in which he asks 'Wat is the Gulf Stream?', 'Where does it begin and end?', and 'Will global warming stop its flow?'

A nontechnical book about the Gulf Stream, one of the most fascinating forces of nature on the globe.