Labrador Current
Topic: Movements of Ocean Water: Waves, Tides and Currents · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 12 "Water (Oceans)"; Class 11, Ch 13 "Movements of Ocean Water"
Meaning
The Labrador Current is a cold ocean current that flows south from the Arctic Ocean, past Labrador and Newfoundland in Canada. It brings Arctic water into the North Atlantic. This chills the coast of north-east North America. It also carries icebergs south into shipping lanes. Where it meets the warm Gulf Stream, warm air passes over cold water. This creates thick fog. The mixing of warm and cold water also helps plankton grow, which supports rich fishing grounds.
Example
The Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream meet off Newfoundland, forming the Grand Banks, one of the world's great fishing grounds. An iceberg carried by this current sank the Titanic in 1912.
Don't confuse with
- Gulf Stream: it is warm and flows north along the US east coast. The Labrador Current is cold and flows south.
- Falkland Current: it is also cold, but it flows north in the South Atlantic, along Argentina.
Related concepts
- Gulf Stream
- North Atlantic Drift
- Canary Current
- Sargasso Sea
- Brazil Current
- Falkland Current
- Benguela Current