What is the largest ocean current that flows permanently eastward around Antarctica?

• A. Gulf Stream
• B. Kuroshio Current
• C. West Wind Drift (Antarctic Circumpolar Current)
• D. Equatorial Current

Answer: (C)

The most important idea here is understanding how wind drives massive, uninterrupted flows around a continent. Around Antarctica, the largest current that moves permanently eastward is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, also called the West Wind Drift. It wraps all the way around the Southern Ocean, unblocked by land, because the winds that dominate the region blow from west to east so strongly that surface water is pushed around the globe’s southern pole.

This current is huge in volume, making it the biggest ocean current by the amount of water it moves. Its circumpolar nature is what sets it apart: it connects the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific basins into a single, continuous eastward flow around the continent. The other currents mentioned are substantial but do not circumnavigate Antarctica: the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio are Western Boundary Currents in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Equatorial Current runs along the tropics, not around Antarctica.