Sargasso Sea

The Sargasso Sea is the region of the western North Atlantic enclosed by the currents of the subtropical gyre, the Gulf Stream on the west and north, the Canary and North Equatorial Currents on the east and south, with no land boundary. It sits over the gyre’s downwelling center, so it has a deep thermocline, low nutrients, high clarity, and the floating Sargassum mats that name it. The warm, salty Eighteen Degree Water (Subtropical Mode Water) forms here by wintertime convection. The sea is the spawning ground of the European and American eels.