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Ocean currents are important in the study of marine debris. [15] [16] Plankton are dispersed by ocean currents. Upwellings and cold ocean water currents flowing from polar and sub-polar regions bring in nutrients that support plankton growth, which are crucial prey items for several key species in marine ecosystems. [17]
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 ().
The Earth completes one rotation for each sidereal day, so for motions of everyday objects the Coriolis force is imperceptible; its effects become noticeable only for motions occurring over large distances and long periods of time, such as large-scale movement of air in the atmosphere or water in the ocean, or where high precision is important ...
There are different theories on how the Circumpolar Current balances the momentum imparted by the winds. The increasing eastward momentum imparted by the winds causes water parcels to drift outward from the axis of the Earth's rotation (in other words, northward) as a result of the Coriolis force.
Important initial studies into the effects of the Earth's rotation on the wave motion – and the resulting forcing effects on the mean ocean circulation – were done by Ursell & Deacon (1950), Hasselmann (1970) and Pollard (1970). [1]
A northern-hemisphere gyre in geostrophic balance; paler water is less dense than dark water, but more dense than air; the outwards pressure gradient is balanced by the 90 degrees-right-of-flow coriolis force The structure will eventually dissipate due to friction and mixing of water properties. A geostrophic current is an oceanic current in ...
A system of ocean currents that transports heat northward across the North Atlantic could collapse by mid-century, according to a new study, and scientists have said before that such a collapse ...
A subsurface ocean current is an oceanic current that runs beneath surface currents. [1] Examples include the Equatorial Undercurrents of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, the California Undercurrent, [ 2 ] and the Agulhas Undercurrent, [ 3 ] the deep thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic, and bottom gravity currents near Antarctica.