Worldwide, there are five major coastal currents associated with upwelling areas: the
Canary Current (off Northwest Africa)
, the Benguela Current (off southern Africa), the California Current (off California and Oregon), the Humboldt Current
Does upwelling occur everywhere?
Upwelling
does not just happen anywhere but in certain regions of wind-sea interaction
. Along the west coasts of continents in the northern hemisphere northerly winds (coming from the north) are responsible for this phenomenon while in the southern hemisphere southerly winds cause upwelling.
What are upwelling areas?
Upwelling is a process in
which deep, cold water rises toward the surface
. This graphic shows how displaced surface waters are replaced by cold, nutrient-rich water that “wells up” from below. Conditions are optimal for upwelling along the coast when winds blow along the shore.
What does upwelling do globally?
Because the deep water brought to the surface is often rich in nutrients, coastal upwelling supports the growth of seaweed and plankton. These, in turn, provide food for fish, marine mammals, and birds. Upwelling
generates some of the world’s most fertile ecosystems
.
How does the California Current cause an upwelling?
They tend
to move water toward the equator
, and they are prone to strong upwelling. That’s because an ocean current moving from north to south along a west coast is pulled away from the shore by Earth’s rotation (the Coriolis effect), leaving a void that allows deep water to fill in behind.
Where can you find upwelling areas in the world?
Worldwide, there are five major coastal currents associated with upwelling areas: the
Canary Current (off Northwest Africa)
, the Benguela Current (off southern Africa), the California Current (off California and Oregon), the Humboldt Current (off Peru and Chile), and the Somali Current (off Somalia and Oman).
What would happen if upwelling stopped?
What might happen to fisheries if upwelling stopped?
Fish population would die or lessen
. How is the direction of a surface current affected? … It carries warm water to colder water creating a convection current.
Where is upwelling most likely to occur?
Upwelling is most common along
the west coast of continents
(eastern sides of ocean basins). In the Northern Hemisphere, upwelling occurs along west coasts (e.g., coasts of California, Northwest Africa) when winds blow from the north (causing Ekman transport of surface water away from the shore).
Does El Nino cause upwelling?
During an El Niño event, the easterly trade winds converging across the equatorial Pacific weaken. This in turn slows the ocean current that draws surface water away from the western coast of South America and reduces the
upwelling of cold
, nutrient–rich water from the deeper ocean, flattening out the thermocline.
How does upwelling affect phytoplankton?
During upwelling,
wind-displaced surface waters
are replaced by cold, nutrient-rich water that wells up from below. … The deeper water that rises to the surface during upwelling is rich in nutrients. These nutrients “fertilize” surface waters, encouraging the growth of plant life, including phytoplankton.
How does upwelling affect climate?
Again, deeper water comes to the surface bringing with it nutrients and
cooler water temperatures
. In some places, upwelling can even affect the weather. In places such as San Francisco, the cool water temperatures brought by upwelling can cause air temperatures to drop and result in even more dense fog.
Does upwelling increase salinity?
Coastal upwelling intensified, thus cooling the entire shelf water column by 0.4 °C.
Precipitation reduced giving rise to higher upper layer salinities
.
How does downwelling occur?
Downwelling occurs
when the water on the surface of the sea becomes denser than the water beneath it and so it sinks
. … Most downwelling happens at the poles. There, cold air chills the water.
Why is California Current cold?
The water along the coast of California is cold for a couple of reasons. First, the California Current
brings cold water from Alaska southward along the coast
. … This wind, combined with the rotation of the earth, creates surface currents that move water from the coast out into the ocean.
Is California Current warm or cold?
Along the west coast of the U.S., the California Current carries
cold water
from the polar region southward, keeping the west coast relatively cooler than the east coast.
Is the California Current deep?
The California current is the
eastern boundary
current of the North Pacific Gyre, running southward from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico. Western boundary currents flow deeper and stronger than eastern boundary currents. …
