Ocean currents can be caused by
wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes or storms
. Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the ocean.
What are the 2 main things that ocean currents transport?
Ocean circulation derives its energy at the sea surface from two sources that define two circulation types:
(1) wind-driven circulation forced by wind stress on the sea surface, inducing a momentum exchange
, and (2) thermohaline circulation driven by the variations in water density imposed at the sea surface by …
What are the 2 factors that drive the deep ocean currents?
Deep currents are driven by
temperature and water density/salinity
. Of course, deep currents impact surface currents, which carry warm water to the poles. Surface currents are also driven by global wind systems fueled by energy from the sun. Factors like wind direction and the Coriolis effect play a role.
What are the 2 categories of ocean currents?
Currents. There are two main types of ocean currents:
currents driven mainly by wind and currents mainly driven by density differences
. Density depends on temperature and salinity of the water.
What are the two main reasons for the development of ocean currents?
- The rise and fall of the tides. Tides create a current in the oceans, which are strongest near the shore, and in bays and estuaries along the coast. …
- Wind. Winds drive currents that are at or near the ocean's surface. …
- Thermohaline circulation.
What are the 5 causes of ocean currents?
They include
the wind, temperature, breaking waves and at tides, and sometimes underground forces like earthquakes
. Ocean currents are the movements of ocean water due to gravity, the rotating earth (Coriolis effect), water density, the sun, and wind.
What are the 3 major ocean currents?
The produce large circular currents in all the ocean basins. Currents,
The North Equatorial Current, the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, and the Canary Current
.
What happens when two ocean currents meet?
Many boat/ship wrecks
happen where the two currents meet. This is one reason that area is known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”. The two currents can play a role in the weather patterns such as thick fog and large temperature differences which can enhance weather systems right off shore!
What is the ocean currents called?
Thermohaline circulation, also
known as the ocean's conveyor belt, refers to the deep ocean density-driven ocean basin currents. … These currents, which flow under the surface of the ocean and are thus hidden from immediate detection, are called submarine rivers.
What are ocean currents caused by?
What makes ocean currents flow?
Tides
contribute to coastal currents that travel short distances. Major surface ocean currents in the open ocean, however, are set in motion by the wind, which drags on the surface of the water as it blows. The water starts flowing in the same direction as the wind.
What are the 4 factors that create ocean currents?
- Wind. Wind is the single biggest factor in the creation of surface currents. …
- Water Density. Another major factor in the creation of currents is water density, caused by the amount of salt in a body of water, and its temperature. …
- Ocean Bottom Topography. …
- Coriolis Effect.
What is the sequence that produces movement of ocean water?
Ocean water is constantly in motion:
north-south, east-west, alongshore, and vertically
. Seawater motions are the result of waves, tides, and currents (Figure below). Ocean movements are the consequence of many separate factors: wind, tides, Coriolis effect, water density differences, and the shape of the ocean basins.
What are effects of ocean currents?
The effects of ocean currents are:
Affect Temperatures
: Currents influence the climatic conditions of the regions in which they flow. The warm Equatorial currents raise the temperature of the region in which they flow. Similarly, the cold currents lower the temperature of the places where they flow.
How do ocean current affect climate?
Ocean currents act much like a conveyor belt,
transporting warm water and precipitation from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the tropics
. Thus, ocean currents regulate global climate, helping to counteract the uneven distribution of solar radiation reaching Earth's surface.
Where are the strongest ocean currents?
The strongest and most renown surface ocean currents are
the Gulf Stream
, that travels from the Caribbean Sea, along the East coast of North America and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, and the Kuroshio Current in the North Pacific Ocean off the East coast of Asia.
What is the circulation of the ocean?
Ocean circulation is
the large scale movement of waters in the ocean basins
. Winds drive surface circulation, and the cooling and sinking of waters in the polar regions drive deep circulation. Surface circulation carries the warm upper waters poleward from the tropics.
