Matthew Fontaine Maury in 1855 “thought that God set the ocean up to work this way apparently as part of His design to keep Europe warm (for unspecified reasons). But holding such religious beliefs did not stop Maury from also providing a scientific explanation for the Gulf Stream.” But Maury was wrong about the scientific cause of the Gulf Stream circulation, and about the warmth of air in the area. The east coast of North America has cold continental weather patterns. The Rocky Mountains cause a northward ripple in air flow across the Atlantic. Europe is warmer than eastern North America because of a maritime climate and because winds tend to draw warmer air from the south.