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A summary of the path of the thermohaline circulation. Blue paths represent deep-water currents, while red paths represent surface currents. Thermohaline circulation. 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.
The Ekman spiral occurs as a consequence of the Coriolis effect. The Ekman spiral is an arrangement of ocean currents: the directions of horizontal current appear to twist as the depth changes. [1] The oceanic wind driven Ekman spiral is the result of a force balance created by a shear stress force, Coriolis force and the water drag. This force ...
Overview of climatic changes and their effects on the ocean. Regional effects are displayed in italics. [1] This NASA animation conveys Earth's oceanic processes as a driving force among Earth's interrelated systems. There are many effects of climate change on oceans. One of the most important is an increase in ocean temperatures.
Surface oceanic currents are driven by wind currents, the large scale prevailing winds drive major persistent ocean currents, and seasonal or occasional winds drive currents of similar persistence to the winds that drive them, [6] and the Coriolis effect plays a major role in their development. [7]
Surface currents flow at a 45° angle to the wind due to a balance between the Coriolis force and the drags generated by the wind and the water. [7] If the ocean is divided vertically into thin layers, the magnitude of the velocity (the speed) decreases from a maximum at the surface until it dissipates.
An expedition in May 2008 by 19 scientists [18] studied the geology and biology of eight Macquarie Ridge sea mounts, as well as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to investigate the effects of climate change of the Southern Ocean. The circumpolar current merges the waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans and carries up to 150 times ...
The first documented observations of an Ekman-like spiral in the ocean were made in the Arctic Ocean from a drifting ice floe in 1958. [10] More recent observations include (not an exhaustive list): The 1980 mixed layer experiment [11] Within the Sargasso Sea during the 1982 Long Term Upper Ocean Study [12]
Marine currents can carry large amounts of water, largely driven by the tides, which are a consequence of the gravitational effects of the planetary motion of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun. Augmented flow velocities can be found where the underwater topography in straits between islands and the mainland or in shallows around headlands plays a major role in enhancing the flow velocities ...