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Ocean Currents: Surface to Deep Movements

Learn about ocean currents, from surface gyres to deep streams, and how factors like winds, Coriolis effect, and continental deflections influence their patterns. Explore the impacts of warm and cold currents on climate and ecosystems. Discover the crucial processes of upwelling and downwelling, and the phenomena of El Niño and La Niña on water temperatures.

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Ocean Currents: Surface to Deep Movements

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  1. Ocean Currents

  2. Ocean Currents • Mass movement or flow of ocean water • River within the ocean (“Conveyor Belt”) • Two types • Surface • Deep (or Subsurface)

  3. Ocean Currents Vocabulary Gyre: Nearly closed current system in the open ocean • Clockwise pattern in N. Hemisphere • Counter-clockwise pattern in S. Hemisphere

  4. Ocean Currents Vocabulary Continued… • Meander – Bend in a current’s flow • Ring – Large, whirl-like pattern (when a meander is cut off) • Eddy – Small current Ring

  5. Surface Current Link • Horizontal, stream-like movements of water that occur at or near the surface of the ocean • Can reach depths of several hundred meters

  6. Surface Currents continued… • Controlled by three factors • Global winds • Coriolis Effect • Continental Deflections

  7. Surface Currents continued… • Global Winds • Cause surface currents to flow in the direction the wind is blowing • Coriolis Effect Link • Apparent curving of moving objects (ie- Water) due to the Earth’s rotation

  8. Surface Currents continued… • Coriolis Effect • Northern Hemisphere = clockwise • Southern Hemisphere = counter clockwise • Continental Deflections • Shape of continents change the direction of current flow

  9. Deep Currents • Stream like movement of ocean water far below the surface • Caused by changes in density • Change in temperature • Change in salinity

  10. Deep Currents continued… • Change in temperature • Decreasing the temperature of water increases density • Change in salinity • Increasing the salinity of water increases density

  11. Surface currents and climate • Warm water currents • On the east coasts of continents • Bring warm water to colder regions

  12. Surface currents and climate • Cold water currents • On the west coasts of continents • Bring cold water to warmer regions

  13. Upwelling Link • The movement of deep, cold, nutrient rich water to the surface • Nutrients promote growth of fish and plants • Areas are important fishing grounds

  14. Downwelling • The movement of warm surface waters towards the coast • Causes a thickening of the surface waters which causes them to sink

  15. Causes of warm and cold currents • El Niño • Change in the water temperature in the Pacific Ocean that produces a warm current

  16. Causes of warm and cold currents • La Niña • Change in the eastern Pacific Ocean in which the surface water temperature becomes unusually cool

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