Climate of The United Kingdom - The Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean

One of the greatest influences on the climate of the UK is the Atlantic Ocean and especially the North Atlantic Current, which brings warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the waters around the country by means of thermohaline circulation. This has a powerful moderating and warming effect on the country's climate—the North Atlantic Drift warms the climate to such a great extent that if the current did not exist then temperatures in winter would be about 10 °C (18.0 °F) lower than they are today. The current allows England to have vineyards at the same latitude that Canada has polar bears. A good example of the effects of the North Atlantic Drift is Tresco Abbey Gardens, on the Isles of Scilly, 48 kilometres (30 mi) west of Cornwall, where Canary Island date palm trees grow - possibly the nearest of their kind to the Arctic Circle, at 50° latitude north. These warm ocean currents also bring substantial amounts of humidity which contributes to the notoriously wet climate that western parts of the UK experience.

The extent of the Gulf Stream's contribution to the actual temperature differential between North America and western Europe is a matter of dispute. It has been argued that atmospheric waves that bring subtropical air northwards contribute to a much greater extent to the temperature differential than thermohaline circulation.