Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulates in the ocean.
How are currents caused?
Currents are caused by wind, gravity, and variations in water density.
The effect of the Coriolis Effect on airplane flights
The Coriolis Effect can change airplane flights because when objects move towards higher, slower moving latitudes, it out paces the rotation of the surface and veers to the east. When they move to lower, faster moving latitudes, they lag behind.
Coriolis Effect
The Coriolis Effect occurs because the earth rotates quicker at the equator than at the poles. It influences the paths of moving objects loosely in contact with the ground.
Gulf Stream Current
The Gulf Stream Current is a vast flow that takes centuries to circulate the globe. This curent has taken a millenium to circulate.
What are the most important factors of surface currents?
Wind and Gravity are the most important factors of surface currents. When strong sustained winds blow across the sea, friction drags a thin layer of water into motion. Currents run under the gentle slopes due to the pull of gravity.
What can trigger the phenomena called the El Nino?
Very warm equatorial current that flows eastward can trigger the phenomena called El Nino.
Surface circulation and Deep Circulation
Surface circulation and deep circulation differ because surface circulation stirs a relatively thin upper layer of the sea while deep circulation sweeps along the deep sea floor.
What happens to the tropics during summer to water level?
During the summer, the tropics become very heated which causes the water to expand which leads to the rise of water levels by several meters.
ThermohalineCirculation
Density variations in the ocean. Thermohaline circulation depends on temperature and salinity. It begins in the surface of the seawater which is near the poles. The water then gets colder due to the low temperatures. Polar seawater gets saltier, and the colder and saltier the water gets the more dense it becomes causing it to sink.
Gyre
A gyre is the dominant patter of surface circulation. It is a well organized roughly circular flow and are located in subtropical waters. There are 2 in the pacific ocean, 2 in the atlantic ocean, and 1 in the indian ocean.
Temporary currents
Temporary currents are currents that only run on certain seasons or weather conditions. Longshore currents flow along coastlines when waves run into the shore at an angle. They bulldoze great volumes of sand along the shore causing the beaches to disappear and harbors to fill in. Rip currents form where obstacles channel water away from the shore line. These are dangerous because people in the water can be swept out into sea. Upwelling currents are currents where wind pushes surface water away from the shore and deeper water pushes in to fill in the gaps.
Global Conveyor Belt
The global conveyor belt slowly but steadily empties one ocean into another ocean and over a course of 1000 years, turns the water upside down. The global conveyor belt has a volume 16 times the combined flows of all the world's rivers.
Global Impacts of Currents
The importance of currents to humans
Currents are important to humans because they partially regulate the global climate and governs the productivity of fisheries.
Benefit of Upwelling to people
Upwelling is "the rise of deeper water to the surface. It makes up half of the world's fisheries.
How currents affect Earth's temperature
Ocean currents moderate the planet's temperature extremes.
How global warming affects ocean currents
Warm, fresh water from rainfall floats on top of the cold, salty water. Blocking the sinking of cold, salty water. This can turn off the global conveyer belt.