Atlantic Ocean by three inter-connected currents: the Gulf Stream which flows north-east from the North American coast at Cape Hatteras; the North Atlantic Current, a branch of the Gulf Stream which flows northward from the Grand Banks; and the Subpolar Front, an extension of the North Atlantic Current, a wide, vaguely defined region separating the subtropical gyre from the subpolar gyre. This system of currents transport warm water into the North Atlantic, without which temperatures in the North Atlantic and Europe would plunge dramatically. North of the North Atlantic Gyre, the cyclonic North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre plays a key role in climate
Atlantic Ocean of the circumpolar region, near the Drake Passage and Falkland Islands. Both these currents receive some contribution from the Indian Ocean. On the African east coast the small cyclonic Angola Gyre lies embedded in the large subtropical gyre. The southern subtropical gyre is partly masked by a wind-induced Ekman layer. The residence time of the gyre is 4.4–8.5 years. North Atlantic Deep Water flows southerward below the thermocline of the subtropical gyre. The Sargasso Sea in the western North Atlantic can be defined as the area where two species of "Sargassum" ("S. fluitans" and "natans") float, an area wide and