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There are two main types of currents, surface currents and deep water currents. Generally surface currents are driven by wind systems and deep water currents are driven by differences in water density due to variations in water temperature and salinity. [5]
A rip current (or just rip) is a specific type of water current that can occur near beaches where waves break. A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water that moves directly away from the shore by cutting through the lines of breaking waves, like a river flowing out to sea. The force of the current in a rip is strongest and ...
The circumpolar current is driven by the strong westerly winds in the latitudes of the Southern Ocean. The ACC (red circle near the middle of the image) in relation to the global thermohaline circulation. In latitudes where there are continents, winds blowing on light surface water can simply pile up light water against these continents.
Saltstraumen has one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Up to 400 million cubic metres (110 billion US gallons) of seawater [ 5 ] forces its way through a 3 km (1.9 mi) long and 150 m (490 ft) wide strait every six hours. [ 6 ]
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 ...
Strong winds from the east combined with the powerful south-to-north flow of the offshore Gulf Stream current help to create the shoreline rip currents and rough seas that can prove so deadly ...
Big waves, strong rip currents and high bacterial levels in the water make visits to some Southern California beaches hazardous.
A rip tide, or riptide, is a strong offshore current that is caused by the tide pulling water through an inlet along a barrier beach, at a lagoon or inland marina where tide water flows steadily out to sea during ebb tide. It is a strong tidal flow of water within estuaries and other enclosed tidal areas. The riptides become the strongest where ...