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The subtropical countercurrent (STCC) is a narrow eastward ocean current in the central North Pacific Ocean (20–30°N) where the Sverdrup theory predicts a broad westward flow. It originates in the western North Pacific around 20°N, and flows eastward against the northeast trade winds and stretches northeastward to the north of Hawaii .
In oceanography, a gyre (/ ˈ dʒ aɪ ər /) is any large system of ocean surface currents moving in a circular fashion driven by wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determine the circulatory patterns from the wind stress curl ().
AMOC in relation to the global thermohaline circulation . The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is the main current system in the Atlantic Ocean [1]: 2238 and is also part of the global thermohaline circulation, which connects the world's oceans with a single "conveyor belt" of continuous water exchange. [18]
The oceanic regions within the South Pacific Gyre (SPG), and other subtropical gyres, are characterized by low primary productivity in the surface ocean; i.e. they are oligotrophic. The center of the SPG is the furthest oceanic province from a continent and contains the clearest ocean water on Earth [2] with ≥ 0.14 mg chlorophyll per m 3. [2]
Sub-tropical western boundary currents are warm, deep, narrow, and fast-flowing currents that form on the west side of ocean basins due to western intensification. They carry warm water from the tropics poleward. Examples include the Gulf Stream, the Agulhas Current, and the Kuroshio Current. Low-latitude western boundary currents are similar ...
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) is the largest contiguous ecosystem on earth. In oceanography, a subtropical gyre is a ring-like system of ocean currents rotating clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere caused by the Coriolis Effect. They generally form in large open ocean areas that lie ...
As the warmer branch turns southward, most of the subtropical component of the Gulf Stream is diverted southward, and as a consequence, the North Atlantic is mostly supplied by subpolar waters, including a contribution from the Labrador Current recirculated into the NAC at 45°N. [2] West of Continental Europe, it splits into two major branches.
Ekman transport is the net motion of fluid as the result of a balance between Coriolis and turbulent drag forces. In the picture above, the wind blowing North in the northern hemisphere creates a surface stress and a resulting Ekman spiral is found below it in the water column.