Ocean+Currents-+Surface-SuzyKenzieCatherine

Ocean Currents:
__//Any continuous flow of water across a broad path in the ocean//__

Surface Currents: (From class notes)

 * Horizontal

How to track: (From class notes)

 * Temperature
 * Salinity
 * Sea life
 * Suspended solids
 * chemicals, molecules minerals

Circulation Factors: (From class notes and text book notes)

 * The coriollis effect-north to south movement of water
 * Temperature changes between poles and the equator
 * Currents go counter clockwise north of the equator and clockwise south of the equator
 * Circulation patterns cause water off the east coast of continents in the northern hemisphere to be warm; and the water off the west coast of continents in the southern hemisphere to be cold

The Gulf Stream: (From ocean and currents test and quiz and class notes)

 * The Gulf Stream is the most powerful warm water current on the planet
 * The Gulf Stream is the most important current affecting our lives in MA
 * The Gulf Stream is 50 times wider than the Mississippi River
 * Near Florida the Gulf Stream discharges over 100,000,000 cubic meters of water per second, which is 4 mph
 * Once it reaches our part of the world the speed reduces to 1 mph
 * Gulf Stream separates the cold North Atlantic from a warmer region of the same ocean known as the Sargasso Sea
 * The banks of the Gulf Stream are water which means the current is free to meander about, sometimes resulting in cold eddies being pinched off into the Sargasso Sea

On Previous Tests: (Ocean and Currents Test)

 * Factors affecting surface currents:**
 * Driving force creating surface currents in the ocean is earth's rotation
 * Second most important influence affecting surface currents is temperature difference
 * Temp. difference between poles and equator
 * Trade winds drive ocean currents near the equator
 * Continental barriers are an influence on surface currents: e.i. equatorial counter


 * Other important facts:**
 * Surface ocean currents north of the equator circulate in a clockwise direction
 * The winds far from the equator that complete hemisphere-wide, ocean currents, circulation loops are the westerlies
 * If something was dropped in the South China Sea, it would eventually reach the Pacific North West of the U.S.
 * The only place in the world where surface currents regularly reverse direction in response to seasonal changes in wind direction is the south west coast of India