Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Ocean surface currents Distinctive white lines trace the flow of surface currents around the world. Visualization showing global ocean currents from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2012, at sea level, then at 2,000 m (6,600 ft) below sea level Animation of circulation around ice shelves of Antarctica
Marine currents can carry large amounts of water, largely driven by the tides, which are a consequence of the gravitational effects of the planetary motion of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun. Augmented flow velocities can be found where the underwater topography in straits between islands and the mainland or in shallows around headlands plays a major role in enhancing the flow velocities ...
Winds are the main source of energy for ocean circulation, and Ekman transport is a component of wind-driven ocean current. [1] Ekman transport occurs when ocean surface waters are influenced by the friction force acting on them via the wind.
The Ekman spiral occurs as a consequence of the Coriolis effect. The Ekman spiral is an arrangement of ocean currents: the directions of horizontal current appear to twist as the depth changes. [1] The oceanic wind driven Ekman spiral is the result of a force balance created by a shear stress force, Coriolis force and the water drag. This force ...
The Oyashio Current (親潮, "Parental Tide"), also known as the Okhotsk Current or Kurile Current, is a cold subarctic ocean current that flows south and circulates counterclockwise in the western North Pacific Ocean. The waters of the Oyashio Current originate in the Arctic Ocean and flow southward via the Bering Sea, passing through the ...
Coastal upwelling has a major influence over the affected region's local climate. This effect is magnified if the ocean current is already cool. As the cold, nutrient-rich water moves upwards and the sea surface temperature gets cooler, the air immediately above it also cools down and is likely to condensate, forming sea fog and stratus clouds.
The first documented observations of an Ekman-like spiral in the ocean were made in the Arctic Ocean from a drifting ice floe in 1958. [10] More recent observations include (not an exhaustive list): The 1980 mixed layer experiment [11] Within the Sargasso Sea during the 1982 Long Term Upper Ocean Study [12]
The Somali Current is a cold ocean boundary current that runs along the coast of Somalia and Oman in the Western Indian Ocean and is analogous to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. [1] This current is heavily influenced by the monsoons and is the only major upwelling system that occurs on a western boundary of an ocean.