But the current can’t form by itself. It needs the Polar current . When you think Polar current, think about the Titanic. It ran into an iceburg off Newfoundland, so the Polar current comes down the Eastern Seabord off North America. There is so much ice brought down by this current the granite bottom has grooves carved in it by giant iceburgs and the ocean east of Newfoundland becomes a solid sheet of ice briefly in spring and Atlantic Seals have their pups on the giant ice sheet of ice because they adult seals and pups safe from predators (except for man) and yet have easy access to the ocean to get fish.

Then there is the trade winds which blow from Spain to South America so sailing ships that wanted to go southern Africa and go around the Cape of Good Hope to get to Asia used to sail west instead of South and avoid an area called the “Doldrums” a place where there is no wind for long periods of time. When they got two thirds of the way to Brazil there was another wind that took them east and south to the Cape.

Then there is the cold water “sink” in the Marianna’s trench, so there are a lot of other weather patterns that have to happen for the Gulf Stream to exist as it is.

I’m sure other could think of more, but I thinks that’s enough to show it is interdependent and not independent.

An “open system” is when many factors work together and can be influenced by outside forces. The human body and nature are “open systems”. Nature can easily be changed or disrupted by outside forces, such as pollution, hydrocarbons, which nowadays have the effect of creating the conditions for global warming.

The gulf stream is part of nature. The Gulf Stream is an open system because it’s quite easily affected by various outside forces. For example, Gulf Stream water is very warm. Warm water currents tend to be rich in nutrients for sealife and such ocean currents travel closer to the ocean’s surface.

Global warming and the melting of arctic ice can cause the sea temperatures and Gulf Steam water to become considerably cooler. Such water is heavier than warm water and tends to drop to lower ocean levels. This reduces the amount of food able to sustain sea life along the Gulf Stream current, which in turn changes the fish populations and whale migration patterns. Cool water current also tend travel more slowly than warm currents, which has other effects.