HOW DO OCEAN CURRENTS WORK?
What is causing rising Sea Temperatures?
As greenhouse gases trap more energy from the sun, the oceans are absorbing more heat, resulting in an increase in sea surface temperatures and rising sea level. Changes in ocean temperatures and currents brought about by climate change will lead to alterations in climate patterns around the world.
What is the Coriolis Effect?
Because the Earth rotates on its axis, circulating air is deflected toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This deflection is called the Coriolis effect.
About Deep Ocean Currents
Deep ocean currents are driven primarily by changes in the density of seawater. As water moves towards the North Pole, it gets colder. It also has a higher concentration of salt, because the ice crystals that form trap water while leaving salt behind. This cold, salty water is more dense, so it sinks, and warmer surface water takes its place, setting up a vertical current called thermohaline circulation.
What are Greenhouse Gases?
Greenhouse gases are gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat. They let sunlight pass through the atmosphere, but they prevent the heat that the sunlight brings from leaving the atmosphere. Examples: Carbon Dioxide,Methane, Chlorofluorocarbon etc.
If the Earth Didn't rotate How Would it Affect the Ocean Currents?
If the earth didn't rotate, air and water would simply move back and forth between low pressure at the equator and high pressure at the poles. But as the earth spins, air moving from the equator to the North Pole is deflected eastward, and air moving back down is deflected westward. The mirror image happens in the southern hemisphere so that the major streams of wind form loop-like patterns around the ocean basins. This is called the Coriolis Effect.
About Ocean Currents
If you zoom out to look at the patterns of surface currents all over the earth, you'll see that they form big loops called GYRES, which travel clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. That's because of the way the Earth's rotation affects the wind patterns that give rise to these currents.
About Surface Currents
Near the shore, Surface Currents are driven by both the wind and tides, which draw water back and forth as the water level falls and rises. Meanwhile, in the Open Ocean, wind is the major force behind surface currents. As wind blows over the ocean, it drags the top layers of water along with it. That moving water pulls on the layers underneath, and those pull on the ones beneath them.
How has Golbal Warming Affected the Global Conveyor Belt?
Rising sea temperatures are causing the Conveyor Belt to seemingly slow down. Models show this causing havoc with weather system on both sides of the Atlantic, and no one knows what would happen if it continues to slow or if it stopped altogether.
Ocean Currents Fall into Two Categories
Surface Currents and Deep Ocean Currents
How do Surface Currents and Deep Ocean Currents control the Ocean's Water?
Surface currents control the motion of the top 10 percent of the ocean's water. Deep-ocean currents mobilize the other 90 percent.
What is the Global Conveyor Belt?
The global conveyor belt is a system of ocean currents that transport water around the world. As water moves from the depths of the ocean to the surface it carries nutrients that nourish the microorganisms which form the base of many ocean food chains. The global conveyor belt is the longest current in the world, snaking all around the globe. Rising sea temperatures are causing the Conveyor Belt to seemingly slow down. Models show this causing havoc with weather system on both sides of the Atlantic, and no one knows what would happen if it continues to slow or if it stopped altogether.
What Affects the Movement of the Ocean Currents?
The heights and depths of the ocean floor and the shoreline modify the motions of the ocean currents.
What is Global Warming?
The increase in Earth's average temperature over a long period of time.
What is Salinity as it relates to Water?
The term "salinity" refers to the concentrations of salts in water.
What is Thermohaline Circulation?
Thermohaline circulation transports and mixes the water of the oceans. In the process, it transports heat, which influences regional climate patterns. Thermohaline circulation of deep water and wind-driven surface currents combine to form a winding loop called the Global Conveyor Belt.
What Factors Cause the Change in Ocean Currents?
Wind, Tides, Changes in Water Density (due to tempurature or salinity ), and The Rotation of the Earth.