Volumes of Water Moving in Currents
Oceanographers express current flow in "millions of cubic meters per second," a term difficult for most people to comprehend. A large current, such as the Gulf Stream south of Nova Scotia, transports more than 150 million cubic meters per second, and typical transports for the smaller deep western boundary currents are 10 to 20 million cubic meters per second. Various dense overflows from marginal seas such as the Mediterranean are even smaller, 1 to 3 million cubic meters per second. For comparison, the sum of all the rivers flowing into the Atlantic is about 0.6 million cubic meters per second. The Amazon contributes about a third of that total, while the Mississippi River, whose rampages plagued the midwest last summer, accounts for only about 0.02 million cubic meters per second, roughly one ten-thousandth of the Gulf Stream's transport!
(Michael S. McCartney, Senior Scientist, Woods Hole oceanographic Institution )
