We examined data on 1184 drift bottles launched by students between 2000 and 2007 from vessels of opportunity at locations scattered along the Canadian Maritimes and Greenland (Figure 1), supplemented with data from four bottles from historical records (Becher, 1843, 1852). The results confirm and extend observations of the geographic pattern of recoveries made in 1979–1980 using 9000 drifting cards released along the Labrador Shelf (Diemand et al., 1982), and the track of surface currents in the North Atlantic determined during 1990–2002 using satellite-tracked drifters with drogues (Brambilla and Talley, 2006).

Ebbesmeyer, C.C., I.M. Belkin, H.E. Drost, S. Zimmermann, and E.C. Carmack. 2011. Wall across the Atlantic: Drift bottles released by students confirm that the Gulf Stream prevents subarctic surface drifters from escaping south. Oceanography 24(1):172–174, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2011.15.

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