Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In recent times, around-the-world sailing competitors make good use of surface currents to build and maintain speed. Ocean currents can also be used for marine power generation, with areas of Japan, Florida and Hawaii being considered for test projects. The utilization of currents today can still impact global trade, it can reduce the cost and ...
Vector Diagram of current flow along the east coast of the United States. The total worldwide power in ocean currents has been estimated to be about 5,000 GW, with power densities of up to 15 kW/m2. The relatively constant extractable energy density near the surface of the Florida Straits Current is about 1 kW/m2 of flow area.
The cooler ocean current along the west coast also makes summer temperatures cooler on the west coast compared to the east coast. For example, Half Moon Bay at 37°N has no month with an average high above 67 °F (19 °C) and San Francisco often stays below 70 °F (21 °C) in summer, while Virginia Beach, VA , close to the same latitude, has ...
The current is circumpolar due to the lack of any landmass connecting with Antarctica and this keeps warm ocean waters away from Antarctica, enabling that continent to maintain its huge ice sheet. Associated with the Circumpolar Current is the Antarctic Convergence , where the cold Antarctic waters meet the warmer waters of the subantarctic ...
A crucial system of ocean currents may already be on course to collapse with devastating implications for sea level rise global weather — leading temperatures to plunge dramatically in some ...
Ocean currents are the horizontal movements of water from one location to another. The movement of water is impacted by: meteorological effects, wind, temperature differences, gravity, and on occasion earthquakes. Set is the current's direction, expressed in true degrees. Drift is the current's speed, which is usually measured in knots. [1 ...
Within the southern hemisphere, the South Equatorial Current is the westward limb of the very large-scale subtropical gyres. These gyres are driven by the combination of trade winds in the tropics and westerly winds that are found south of about 30 degrees south , through a rather complicated process that includes western boundary current ...
The current goes down to about 400 metres (1,300 ft). Flow rate:The total flow is up to around 30,000,000 cubic metres (1.1 × 10 9 cu ft) per second. The top speed is around 1.5 m/s (2.9 knots; 3.4 mph), which is about twice as fast as the westerly surface current. Length:13,000 kilometres (7,000 nmi; 8,100 mi)