Gulf Stream Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and stretches to the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The process of western intensification causes the Gulf Stream to be a northward accelerating current off the east coast of North America. At about , it splits in two, with the northern stream, the North Atlantic Drift, crossing to Northern Europe and the southern stream, the Canary Current,
North Atlantic Tracks tracks were known as 'Track Sierra Mike' (SM) and 'Track Sierra Oscar' (SO) for westbound flights and 'Track Sierra November' (SN) for eastbounds. An additional route, 'Track Sierra Papa' (SP), was used for seasonal British Airways flights from London Heathrow to/from Barbados. North Atlantic Tracks North Atlantic Tracks, officially titled the North Atlantic Organised Track System (NAT-OTS), is a structured set of transatlantic flight routes that stretch from the northeast of North America to western Europe across the Atlantic Ocean. They ensure aircraft are separated over the ocean, where there is little radar coverage. These heavily traveled routes are used