What are the differences between the northern and southern hemisphere wind ocean currents?

What are the differences between the northern and southern hemisphere wind ocean currents?

Currents Tutorial In the Northern Hemisphere, warm air around the equator rises and flows north toward the pole. A similar wind pattern occurs in the Southern Hemisphere; these winds blow from the southeast toward the northwest and descend near 30 degrees South latitude.

What is the difference between the rotation of currents in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere?

Currents Tutorial Because the Earth rotates on its axis, circulating air is deflected toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This deflection is called the Coriolis effect.

How does ocean current flow in southern hemisphere?

As a result, ocean currents move clockwise (anticyclonically) in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise (cyclonically) in the Southern Hemisphere; Coriolis force deflects them about 45° from the wind direction, and at the Equator there would be no apparent horizontal deflection.

Why do ocean currents move clockwise in the northern hemisphere?

Because of the Coriolis force, the major ocean currents in the northern hemisphere tend to spiral clockwise and they tend to spiral counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere. These current patterns can be seen in the image below.

What are the two main ocean currents?

The two basic types of currents – surface and deep-water currents – help define the character and flow of ocean waters across the planet.

What is the biggest ocean currents in the world?

The largest current in the world, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, is estimated to be 100 times larger than all the water flowing in all the world’s rivers!

What is the strongest current in the North Atlantic?

Gulf Stream

What are the two main factors that affect deep ocean currents?

Deep currents are driven by temperature and water density/salinity. Of course, deep currents impact surface currents, which carry warm water to the poles. Surface currents are also driven by global wind systems fueled by energy from the sun. Factors like wind direction and the Coriolis effect play a role.

What are the two main reasons for the development of ocean currents?

Ocean currents can be caused by wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes or storms. Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the ocean.

What are the 4 factors that create ocean currents?

Four Factors That Create Ocean Currents

• Wind. Wind is the single biggest factor in the creation of surface currents.
• Water Density. Another major factor in the creation of currents is water density, caused by the amount of salt in a body of water, and its temperature.
• Ocean Bottom Topography.
• Coriolis Effect.

What are the causes of currents?

Causes of Ocean Currents

• Solar heating. it causes water to expand.
• Wind. The Wind is responsible for ocean currents as it blows the water on the surface, causing the currents.
• Gravity. Gravity tends to pull items towards the surface of the earth.
• The salinity of the water.
• Temperature.
• Coriolis effect.
• Underwater earthquakes.

What is the most powerful ocean current?

Antarctic Circumpolar Current

What are 5 factors that affect current flow?

There are four factors affecting the origin and flow of Ocean Currents i.e. Rotation and gravitational force of the Earth; Oceanic factors (temperature, salinity, density, pressure gradient and melting of ice); atmospheric factors (atmospheric pressure, winds, rainfall, evaporation and insolation); factors that …

Which best describes how ocean currents are created?

Explanation: The main reason by which the ocean currents are formed is the rotation of earth. The earth rotates on its own axis and due to this reason there is a huge mixing of the water from the equator and poles which is termed as ocean currents. Ocean currents are important as it controls the global temperature.

Why are ocean currents so important?

Currents, gyres and eddies transport water and heat long distances and help promote large-scale mixing of the ocean. In the process they also transport nutrients, salt and other chemicals and help regulate the planet’s weather, climate and marine ecosystems.

How do ocean currents affect weather?

Ocean currents act as conveyer belts of warm and cold water, sending heat toward the polar regions and helping tropical areas cool off, thus influencing both weather and climate. Land areas also absorb some sunlight, and the atmosphere helps to retain heat that would otherwise quickly radiate into space after sunset.

What are ocean currents short answer?

An ocean current is any more or less permanent or continuous, directed movement of ocean water that flows in one of the Earth’s oceans. The currents are generated from the forces acting upon the water like the earth’s rotation, the wind, the temperature and salinity differences and the gravitation of the moon.

What is an example of ocean currents?

One major example of an ocean current is the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. Ocean currents can be found on the water surface and deeper down. Currents on the surface often depend on wind. They travel clockwise in the northern hemisphere.

What are the two types of ocean currents give examples?

Two types of ocean circulation

• Equatorial currents. At the Equator the currents are for the most part directed toward the west, the North Equatorial Current in the Northern Hemisphere and the South Equatorial Current in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The subtropical gyres.
• The subpolar gyres.

Why is ocean water is salty?

Salt in the sea, or ocean salinity, is mainly caused by rain washing mineral ions from the land into water. Carbon dioxide in the air dissolves into rainwater, making it slightly acidic. When rain falls, it weathers rocks, releasing mineral salts that separate into ions.

How much of the ocean is whale pee?

The picture isn’t much better for whales. Even though we haven’t hunted them on an industrial scale for decades, the ocean is still missing 66 to 99 percent of its blubbery behemoths. Blue whales, which urinate so prolifically, are at just 1 percent of their historic numbers in the Southern Hemisphere.

Why are oceans salty but not lakes?

Rain replenishes freshwater in rivers and streams, so they don’t taste salty. However, the water in the ocean collects all of the salt and minerals from all of the rivers that flow into it. In other words, the ocean today probably has a balanced salt input and output (and so the ocean is no longer getting saltier).

Is the entire ocean salt water?

Oceans cover about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and about 97 percent of all water on and in the Earth is saline —there’s a lot of salty water on our planet.