The equatorial belt of the Atlantic Ocean with the help of trade winds drive two streams of water westward and flow north of equator and the other flow south of equator. These are known as North Equatorial Currents and South Equatorial Currents. The South Equatorial Currents bifurcates into two branches near the Cape De Roque in Brazil. Its northern branch joins the North Equatorial Current. This combined current enters the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico while the remaining current passes along the eastern side of the West Indies as the Antilles Current. The part of the current which enters the Gulf of Mexico comes out from the Florida strait and joins the Antilles Current. The combined current moves along the south eastern coast of the U.S.A. It is known as Florida Current up to Cape of Hatteras. Beyond the Cape Hatteras up to the Grand Banks it is called Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is deflected eastward under the combined influence of the westerlies and rotation of the earth. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean as the North Atlantic Drift. 

Northern branch of the Atlantic Drift flows along the coast of Norway as Norwegian Current up to the Arctic Ocean and southern branch flows between Spain and Azores Island as the cold Canaries Current.

Apart from the clockwise circulation of the currents in the North Atlantic Ocean there are two cold currents. These are known as the Greenland Current and Labrador Current which flow from the Arctic Ocean to Atlantic Ocean. The Labrador Current meets the warm Gulf stream Current of the eastern coast of Canada. The South Equatorial Current splits into two branches near Brazil. The South Atlantic Current is diverted northward as the cold Benguela Current. Another cold current known as the Falkland Current flows along the southeastern coast of South America from south to north.

Comparison to the Currents of the Pacific Ocean: In the Pacific Ocean the general pattern of circulation is similar to that of the Atlantic Ocean. In the equatorial belt of the Pacific Ocean two streams of equatorial currents flow across the ocean from the central American coast. The North Equatorial Current turns northward and 

flows along the Philippines Island, Japan and Taiwan to form the warm kuroshio current. The North Pacific Current bifurcates into two branches. The northern branch flows anti clockwise along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska and is known as Alaska Current. The other branch of the North Pacific Current moves southward as the cold Californian Current. In the northern part of the Pacific Ocean two cold currents also flow. These are Oya Siwo Current and Okhotsk Current.

In the South Pacific Ocean the South Equatorial Current flows towards west and turns southward, as the east Australian Current. On reaching the south west coast of South America it turns northwards as Peru Cold Current.