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The largest ocean current is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), a wind-driven current which flows clockwise uninterrupted around Antarctica. The ACC connects all the ocean basins together, and also provides a link between the atmosphere and the deep ocean due to the way water upwells and downwells on either side of it.
An ocean current is a continuous, directed flow of seawater caused by several forces acting upon the water. These include wind, the Coriolis effect, temperature and salinity differences. [15] Ocean currents are primarily horizontal water movements that have different origins such as tides for tidal currents, or wind and waves for surface currents.
It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries; ecosystem dynamics; and plate tectonics and seabed geology.
An alternative name for the ACC is the West Wind Drift. The ACC is the dominant circulation feature of the Southern Ocean and has a mean transport estimated at 100–150 Sverdrups (Sv, million m 3 /s), [1] or possibly even higher, [2] making it the largest ocean current.
Deep-sea currents, known together as the global conveyor belt, carry cold water from near the poles to every ocean and significantly influence Earth's climate. Tides , the generally twice-daily rise and fall of sea levels , are caused by Earth's rotation and the gravitational effects of the Moon and, to a lesser extent, of the Sun .
Hence from the point of view of the atmosphere, the ocean can be considered effectively stationary; from the point of view of the ocean, the atmosphere imposes a significant wind stress on its surface, and this forces large-scale currents in the ocean. Through the wind stress, the wind generates ocean surface waves; the longer waves have a ...
Wind shear, sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the Earth's atmosphere. [61] Wind shear can be broken down into vertical and horizontal components, with horizontal wind shear seen across weather fronts and near the coast, [62] and vertical shear typically near ...
A Wind generated current is a flow in a body of water that is generated by wind friction on its surface. Wind can generate surface currents on water bodies of any size. The depth and strength of the current depend on the wind strength and duration, and on friction and viscosity losses, [1] but are limited to about 400 m depth by the mechanism, and to lesser depths where the water is shallower. [2]