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Prevailing winds, ocean-surface currents, and the associated mixing influence the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the ocean, as well as global climate. Deep ocean currents are density -driven and differ from surface currents in scale, speed, and energy.
The ocean influences weather and climate by storing solar radiation, distributing heat and moisture around the globe, and driving weather systems. This map of sea surface temperature illustrates how heat is distributed across the global ocean.
Ocean water is on the move, affecting your climate, your local ecosystem, and the seafood that you eat. Ocean currents, abiotic features of the environment, are continuous and directed movements of ocean water.
Some ocean currents flow at the surface; others flow deep within water. Some currents flow for short distances; others cross entire ocean basins and even circle the globe. By moving heat from the equator toward the poles, ocean currents play an important role in controlling the climate.
Our ocean is changing. With 70 percent of the planet covered in water, the seas are important drivers of the global climate. Yet increasing greenhouse gases from human activities are altering the ocean before our eyes. NASA and its partners are on a mission to find out more.
The study suggests climate change will continue to speed up across ocean currents, potentially limiting the heat the ocean can capture and complicating migrations for already stressed marine life.
ocean current, stream made up of horizontal and vertical components of the circulation system of ocean waters that is produced by gravity, wind friction, and water density variation in different parts of the ocean.