Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The adjective thermohaline derives from thermo- referring to temperature and -haline referring to salt content , factors which together determine the density of sea ...
The Thermohaline Circulation is part of the global ocean circulation. Although this phenomenon is not fully understood yet, it is known that its driving processes are thermohaline forcing and turbulent mixing . [ 26 ]
There is a continuous large-scale circulation of water in the oceans. One part of it is the thermohaline circulation (THC). It is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. [4] [5] Warm surface currents cool as they move away from the tropics. This happens as the water becomes denser and sinks.
This thermohaline circulation is also known as the ocean's conveyor belt. Where significant vertical movement of ocean currents is observed, this is known as upwelling and downwelling. The adjective thermohaline derives from thermo-referring to temperature and -haline referring to salt content, factors which together determine the density of ...
T-S diagram of a station in the North Pacific. In oceanography, temperature-salinity diagrams, sometimes called T-S diagrams, are used to identify water masses.In a T-S diagram, rather than plotting each water property as a separate "profile," with pressure or depth as the vertical coordinate, potential temperature (on the vertical axis) is plotted versus salinity (on the horizontal axis).
Thermohaline Circulation: Density differences drive the thermohaline circulation, also known as the global "conveyor belt," which plays a crucial role in regulating Earth's climate. Cold, dense water formed in the polar regions sinks and moves along the ocean floor toward the equator, while warmer surface waters flow poleward to replace it.
Aside from the oscillatory motions associated with tidal flow, there are two primary causes of large scale flow in the ocean: (1) thermohaline processes, which induce motion by introducing changes at the surface in temperature and salinity, and therefore in seawater density, and (2) wind forcing.
In oceanography, a halocline (from Greek hals, halos 'salt' and klinein 'to slope') is a cline, a subtype of chemocline caused by a strong, vertical salinity gradient within a body of water. [1] Because salinity (in concert with temperature ) affects the density of seawater , it can play a role in its vertical stratification .