 The global conveyor belt is an idealized system that integrates both the surface and deep water masses in the oceans. The beginning of the loop is the downwelling of deep waters in the northern part of the North Atlantic. This water flows through the oceans as deep water masses into the Indian and the Pacific Ocean, where it upwells both in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean and flows back to the North Atlantic as a surface ocean current, ultimately forming the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic. We know now that the global conveyor belt is a very idealized system, and in fact, circulation of the surface and the deep oceans as well as the intermediate water masses is in fact a lot more complicated.