Table of Contents
Where are surface currents found?
Major surface ocean currents are the result of global wind patterns, Earth’s rotation, and the shape of the ocean basins. Major surface currents circle the oceans in five gyres. Local surface currents, like longshore and rip currents, move near shorelines.
Where does the thermohaline circulation start?
polar regions
Thermohaline circulation begins in the Earth’s polar regions. When ocean water in these areas gets very cold, sea ice forms. The surrounding seawater gets saltier, increases in density and sinks. Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean’s surface.
Where does water rise and sink in thermohaline circulation?
Movement of deep water masses Surface water flows north and sinks in the dense ocean near Iceland and Greenland. It joins the global thermohaline circulation into the Indian Ocean, and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
What is the global thermohaline current?
The thermohaline circulation plays an important role in supplying heat to the polar regions, and thus in regulating the amount of sea ice in these regions, although poleward heat transport outside the tropics is considerably larger in the atmosphere than in the ocean.
What is thermohaline circulation and what causes it?
The thermohaline circulation is mainly driven by the formation of deep water masses in the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean caused by differences in temperature and salinity of the water.
What is a thermohaline circulation and how does it work?
Thermohaline circulation also drives warmer surface waters poleward from the subtropics, which moderates the climate of Iceland and other coastal areas of Europe. Thermohaline circulation transports and mixes the water of the oceans . In the process it transports heat , which influences regional climate patterns.
Which currents help to moderate the climate?
Answer: The currents around Antarctica help moderate the climate. Thus, the continent of Antarctica will have the most moderate climate of any of the continents, because it is totally surrounded by the Antarctic circumpolar current.
What drives thermohaline circulation?
Thermohaline circulation. Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes.