What is it about?
We are all aware of how the Gulf Stream affects our climate through the transfer of heat. What remains less well understood is how the Gulf Stream influences the climate system by transporting nutrients and carbon. The article sets out the view that the Gulf Stream affects the carbon cycle in two different ways. Firstly, the Gulf Stream carries sub-surface waters northwards that have high concentrations of nutrients, which allow plankton to grow and draw down carbon from the atmosphere when those waters reach the surface further to the north. Secondly, these nutrient-rich waters carried by the Gulf Stream were last in contact with the atmosphere many decades ago, and have the capacity to take up additional carbon when they reach the sea surface due to the ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This viewpoint is supported by analyses of historical data and experiments with ocean circulation models.
Featured Image
Photo by yucar studios on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The North Atlantic is one of the most effective locations in the global ocean for carbon uptake, accounting for 23% of the global air-sea carbon uptake, despite only accounting for 11% of the surface area. Understanding what drives this ocean carbon uptake could have major impacts for the planet and how effective the natural carbon cycle will be in curbing the ongoing rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Perspectives
We are investigating the role of the Gulf Stream in the carbon cycle via a research grant C-Streams supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council and the US National Science Foundation. The international team involved in this article include researchers from University of Liverpool , National Oceanography Centre, British Antarctic Survey, Norwegian Research Centre and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The wider team involved in the C-Streams research project include scientists from the UK from National Oceanography Centre, the Universities of Liverpool and Southampton, the Scottish Association of Marine Science and the British Antarctic Survey, and from the USA, the University of Miami.
Professor Richard G Williams
University of Liverpool Department of Earth Ocean and Ecological Sciences
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The biogeochemical transport by the Gulf Stream, Communications Earth & Environment, February 2026, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-03118-y.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
