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This gyre is characterized by a clockwise rotation of surface waters, driven by the combined influence of wind, the Earth's rotation, and the shape of the seafloor. The gyre plays a crucial role in the transport of heat, nutrients, and marine life in the Southern Ocean, affecting the distribution of sea ice and influencing regional climate ...
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]
Both Atlantic subtropical gyres are net evaporative, as well as the Pacific subtropical gyres, although they show an east–west transition with increased evaporation near the eastern boundaries. This spatial pattern can be attributed to the fact that the overlying air becomes saturated in humidity, subsequently leading to decreasing ...
However, compounding frictional forces cause the net transport across the Ekman layer to be 90° to the right of wind stress in the Northern Hemisphere and 90° to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. Ekman transport piles up water between the trade winds and westerlies in subtropical gyres, or near the shore during coastal downwelling. [4]
View of the currents surrounding the gyre. The North Atlantic Gyre of the Atlantic Ocean is one of five great oceanic gyres.It is a circular ocean current, with offshoot eddies and sub-gyres, across the North Atlantic from the Intertropical Convergence Zone (calms or doldrums) to the part south of Iceland, and from the east coasts of North America to the west coasts of Europe and Africa.
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.
The North Pacific Gyre (NPG) or North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), located in the northern Pacific Ocean, is one of the five major oceanic gyres. This gyre covers most of the northern Pacific Ocean.
In a clockwise-rotating gyre in the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis force causes the ocean water to flow inward toward the gyre's center where it accumulates, effectively forming a dome of water. If the wind patterns shift into a cyclonic circulation due to the residence of a low pressure system (rising air induced by warmer ocean ...