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Ocean Currents: Causes, Types, and Major Gyres Explained

Explore the fascinating world of ocean currents, from understanding the various types to delving into the significant role they play in our planet's ecosystem. Discover the factors behind currents and why they are vital to marine life and climate regulation. Dive into cool facts about key currents like the Gulf Stream and learn about the Coriolis effect's influence. Unravel the mysteries of surface and deep currents, and visualize global currents through interactive maps. Journey through the California Current, Kuroshio Current, and other major ocean currents that shape our seas. Let's embark on a voyage of knowledge and curiosity about the dynamic forces that govern our oceans.

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Ocean Currents: Causes, Types, and Major Gyres Explained

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Currents • What is a current? • Are there different types of currents? • What causes currents? • Why are currents important? • What are some major currents?

  2. Cool Current Facts • The Gulf Stream current transports ten-thousand times as much water as the Mississippi river. • The Gulf Stream flows as fast as 2m/sec or about 4 miles per hour. • If caught in this current you could be carried almost a hundred miles in one day.

  3. What is a Current? • A current is defined as a large mass of continuously moving ocean water.

  4. What Causes Currents • Wind • Density (salinity/temperature) • Topography (coasts) • Coriolis effect (earth’s rotation)

  5. Coriolis Effect • The rotation of the earth causes moving objects to veer to the right in the northern hemisphere, to the left in the southern hemisphere. • Objects near the equator are moving much faster than objects near the poles.

  6. Coriolis Effect

  7. Types of Currents • Surface (wind driven) • Deep (density driven) • Vertical (wind/density driven)

  8. Surface Currents • Most visible current • Occur in the top 1 km of the ocean • Produced by wind and redirected by land and the Coriolis effect • This Results in a large circular rotation called a Gyre

  9. Gyre

  10. Create a Current Map • Label the continents • Label the oceans • Using your knowledge of surface currents determine and label where the five major Gyres and one circumpolar current are located. • Use arrows to show the direction of flow. • Label the major currents.

  11. Major Currents • California Current • Kuroshio Current • North and South Equatorial Current • West Wind Drift • Gulf Stream • Peru Current

  12. Global Currents

  13. Thanks to: Images: http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/motion/currents1.htm http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/coriolis_effect.html www.jimloy.com/science/ shower.htm www.ldeo.columbia.edu/ ~jean/research.html Information: http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/motion/currents1.htm http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/student/phillips/ http://www.whoi.edu/coastal-briefs/Coastal-Brief-94-05.html http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/oceanography_currents_1.html http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/coriolis_effect.html

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