Railway
The warm ocean current called the Gulf Stream originates from the:
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Answer: Option B — Gulf of Mexico
Detailed Solution
The Gulf Stream is a powerful, warm ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico. It flows out through the Straits of Florida, between Florida and Cuba, and then moves north along the east coast of the United States before turning north-east across the Atlantic.
How it flows:
- Warm water enters the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea (through the Yucatan Channel) and forms a loop.
- The water leaves through the Straits of Florida as the Florida Current, which joins with the Antilles Current to form the Gulf Stream.
- Off Cape Hatteras (North Carolina), the current moves away from the coast and heads north-east.
- South of Newfoundland, it continues across the Atlantic as the North Atlantic Drift (North Atlantic Current).
Effects of the Gulf Stream:
- It carries enormous amounts of heat from the tropics towards the north.
- The North Atlantic Drift keeps the climate of north-western Europe, including the British Isles and Norway, much milder than other places at the same latitude.
- It keeps many Norwegian ports, such as Hammerfest and Narvik, free of ice in winter.
The Grand Banks:
- Near Newfoundland, the warm Gulf Stream meets the cold Labrador Current flowing south from the Arctic.
- The mixing of warm and cold waters produces thick fog and very rich plankton, which supports one of the world's richest fishing grounds, the Grand Banks.
Other facts:
- Benjamin Franklin mapped and named the Gulf Stream in the 1770s.
- It is part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which scientists monitor because climate change could weaken it.
Types of ocean currents:
- Warm currents flow from the Equator towards the poles, like the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio (Japan Current).
- Cold currents flow from the poles towards the Equator, like the Labrador, Canary, Humboldt (Peru) and Benguela currents.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Hudson Bay is an inland sea in northern Canada.
- ✗The Bay of Biscay lies off western France and northern Spain.
- ✗The Gulf of Guinea lies off western Africa.
Quick tip
Remember: Gulf Stream starts in the Gulf of Mexico, becomes the North Atlantic Drift, warms north-west Europe; meets the cold Labrador Current at the Grand Banks.
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Oceans & Hydrosphere — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Oceans & Hydrosphere, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the hydrosphere: the oceans and seas of the world, ocean relief features such as trenches and ridges, ocean currents, tides, waves, salinity, and the world's major lakes, straits, gulfs and islands. Questions commonly ask about the largest and deepest ocean (the Pacific, with the Mariana Trench), warm and cold ocean currents, the causes of tides, and which water bodies a strait connects. For example, the Palk Strait separates India and Sri Lanka, and the Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Practise the oceans and hydrosphere questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.