How are density currents formed?
Density currents form when water becomes cold and dense and sinks to the bottom and travels along the see floor, then it reaches warmer water and it warms and rises and repeats the cycle.
Where do the densest ocean currents usually form?
The densest ocean water is formed in two primary locations near the poles, where the water is very cold and highly saline as a result of ice formation. The densest deep water mass is formed in the Weddell Sea of Antarctica, and becomes the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW).
What are two types of density currents?
Two major kinds of currents define the planet’s oceans: surface currents driven by wind and deep-water currents driven by variations in seawater density.
What are the 2 types of currents?
Current electricity is a constant flow of electrons. There are two kinds of current electricity: direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC).
What are the two currents?
The two basic types of currents – surface and deep-water currents – help define the character and flow of ocean waters across the planet.
What are 2 types of ocean currents?
There are two type of Ocean Currents:
- Surface Currents–Surface Circulation.
- Deep Water Currents–Thermohaline Circulation.
- Primary Forces–start the water moving.
- The primary forces are:
- Secondary Forces–influence where the currents flow.
- Solar heating cause water to expand.
What are the 3 major ocean currents?
There are five major gyres: the North Atlantic, the South Atlantic, the North Pacific, the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean Gyre, see figure 1. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is situated in the Southern Ocean and constantly circles around Antarctica because there are no land masses to interrupt the currents.
What 3 things affect surface currents?
Surface currents are controlled by three factors: global winds, the Coriolis effect, and continental deflections. surface create surface currents in the ocean.
What 2 things affect deep currents?
Deep ocean currents Differences in water density, resulting from the variability of water temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline), also cause ocean currents.
How do surface currents develop?
How do surface currents develop? A directional movement of ocean water; surface currents result from steady winds over the ocean surface; deep ocean currents result from density variations due to temperature and salinity differences.
What are the major surface currents?
There are five major ocean-wide gyres—the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian Ocean gyres. Each is flanked by a strong and narrow “western boundary current,” and a weak and broad “eastern boundary current” (Ross, 1995).
What are two surface currents examples?
Two examples are the California Current (Cal) in the Pacific ocean basin and the Canary Current (Can) in the Atlantic ocean basin. The North Equatorial Current (NE) and the South Equatorial Current (SE) flow in the same direction.
What is the most common source of energy for surface currents?
the sun
Where do surface currents occur?
Major surface ocean currents are the result of global wind patterns, Earth’s rotation, and the shape of the ocean basins. Major surface currents circle the oceans in five gyres. Local surface currents, like longshore and rip currents, move near shorelines.
How do currents form?
In the Northern Hemisphere, for example, predictable winds called trade winds blow from east to west just above the equator. The winds pull surface water with them, creating currents. As these currents flow westward, the Coriolis effect—a force that results from the rotation of the Earth—deflects them.
What are the characteristics of surface currents?
Surface ocean currents flow in a regular pattern, but they are not all the same. Some currents are deep and narrow. Other currents are shallow and wide. Currents are often affected by the shape of the ocean floor.
How do surface currents affect weather?
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.
What are surface currents?
Ocean water moves in predictable ways along the ocean surface. Surface currents can flow for thousands of kilometers and can reach depths of hundreds of meters. These surface currents do not depend on weather; they remain unchanged even in large storms because they depend on factors that do not change.
Which ocean current determines weather changes?
Answer: The Gulf Stream determines climate change. Thermohaline circulation occurs due to the difference in the temperatures, densities, and salinities of the waters, and determines climate changes.