MET-O

Oceanic Current Phenomena

a) Ocean Eddies and Rings https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/eddy.html

b) Undercurrents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsurface_currents
c) Ocean Currents and Climate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuGrBhK2c7U
d) Ocean Current Observations
e) Current information by the use of Stream Drift Chart, Pilot Charts, Sailing Directions,
Current atlases, nautical charts

LO Discuss the oceanic current phenomena including the use of nautical publications and
resources

c) Ocean Currents and Climate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuGrBhK2c7U thermohaline circulation vry good video
Ocean
Current…
…its importance and influence
to the planet…
Current - a continuous, directed movement of the
sea generated by a number of forces acting upon
the water, including the wind, the Coriolis force, and
the temperature and salinity differences.
( Important facts about ocean current )

The oceans cover around 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface.

Thus they play an important role in the Earth’s climate and in
global warming. One important function of the oceans is to
serve as the vehicle of heat transfer from the tropics to the
higher latitudes. Through its movement, oceans transport
enormous amounts of heat around the world. Beside heat, they
take up large amounts of the carbon dioxide emitted by
humankind. This makes oceans one of the most important
driving forces of climate. The Earth’s climate is influenced by
many factors, including solar radiation, wind, and currents.
Ocean current is any of the more or less permanent
or continuous, directed movement of ocean water
masses that flow in the Earth's oceans.

Ocean current is caused by various factors such as:

• The Rotation of the Earth
• The Coriolis Force
• The Pressure Gradient
• Thermal Variation
• Salinity Differences
And…
• The Wind
What drives the water masses?
Density varies depending
on salinity and
temperature. Cold, salty
water is heavy and sinks
to great depths. This
causes the circulation of
millions of cubic metres
of water in the ocean.
This powerful
phenomenon, which
primarily occurs in a few
polar regions of the
ocean, is called
convection.
Low temperature and high
salinity are the primary
driving forces of
convection. They pull the
dense water of the polar
regions downward, which
drives a worldwide
convection engine called
thermo-haline circulation
(thermo – driven by
temperature differences;
haline – driven by salinity
differences).
(as an example, the surface water in the North Atlantic
region sinks to a depth of around 2000 metres due to
convection. As the cold and salty surface water sinks by
convection, salty water flows in from nearby warmer
regions, from the direction of the equator. The cold, salty
water submerges primarily in the Labrador and
Greenland Seas, and then flows southward toward the
equator and beyond. Although convection only occurs
locally in the polar regions, it propels thermo-haline
circulation, which spans the globe like a giant conveyor
belt. Even the Gulf Stream and its branches are driven by
convection and thermo-haline circulation.)
 The worldwide ocean currents of the thermo-haline
circulation system.

The cold, saline surface water (blue) flows downward and toward
the equator. Warm surface water (red) flows in the opposite
direction, toward the pole. The small yellow circles in the polar
regions indicate convection areas. Salty areas are mostly located in
the warm subtropics because of the high evaporation rates here.
The Major Water Masses produced
by Convection…
The freezing of water in the polar convection regions also plays
a central role. Because ice only contains about five tenths of a
per cent salt, it leaves behind a considerable amount of salt in
the water when it freezes, which increases the salinity of the
surrounding ocean water and thus increases its density. The
water mass produced by convection in the Arctic is called the
North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW).
Convection also occurs in the Antarctic regions. Because of their
even higher salinity, the water masses produced here sink all the
way to the sea floor. This is called the Antarctic Bottom Water
(AABW), and it flows across the ocean floor halfway around the
globe into the North Atlantic.
Two Types Of Ocean Circulation
Ocean circulation derives its energy at the sea surface from two
sources that define two circulation types:

(1) thermo-haline circulation driven by the variations in water

density imposed at the sea surface by exchange of ocean heat
and water with the atmosphere, inducing a buoyancy exchange,
and
(2) wind-driven circulation forced by wind stress on the sea
surface, inducing a momentum exchange.

These two circulation types are not fully independent, since the
sea-air buoyancy and momentum exchange are dependent on
wind speed.
Wind-driven circulation
Wind stress induces a circulation pattern that is similar for each
ocean. In each case, the wind-driven circulation is divided into
gyres that stretch across the entire ocean.
Ocean gyres are large system of circular ocean currents formed
by global wind patterns and forces created by Earth's rotation.
In the planet there are two major categories of Ocean Gyres …

subtropical gyres ( with anti-cyclonic circulation features)

extending from the equatorial current system to the maximum
westerlies in a wind field near 50° latitude

sub-polar gyres (with cyclonic circulation features) extending

poleward of the maximum westerlies.
There are five major ocean-wide gyres:

• the North Atlantic

• South Atlantic
• North Pacific
• South Pacific
• and Indian Ocean gyres.

( Each of these gyres is flanked by a strong and narrow “western

boundary current,” and a weak and broad “eastern boundary
current” )
One
particularly
powerful
western
boundary
current is
the Gulf
Stream.
The Gulf
Stream
flanks
the North Atlantic gyre. It is paired with the eastern boundary
Canary Current. The Gulf Stream, also called the North Atlantic
Drift, originates in the Gulf of Mexico, exits through the Strait of
Florida, and follows the eastern coastline of the United States and
Newfoundland. It travels at speeds of 25 to 75 miles per day at
about one to three knots.
The movement of
the world's
major ocean
gyres helps drive
the
“ocean conveyor
belt.” The ocean
conveyor belt
circulates ocean
water around
the entire
planet.
The depth penetration of the wind-driven currents depends on
the intensity of ocean stratification: in those regions of strong
stratification, such as the tropics, the surface currents extend to
a depth of less than 1,000 metres (about 3,300 feet), and within
the low-stratification polar regions the wind-driven circulation
reaches all the way to the seafloor.
The wind-driven circulation is the more vigorous of the two
and is configured as gyres that dominate an ocean region. The
wind-driven circulation is strongest in the surface layer.

The thermo-haline circulation

is more sluggish, with a typical
speed of 1 cm (0.4 inch) per
second, but this flow extends to
the seafloor and forms
circulation patterns that
envelop the global ocean.
Types of currents
1. Ocean surface currents – are currents that affects the surface
water above the pycnocline (<10% of ocean water). These
currents are primarily driven by major wind belts.

2. Deep currents – are currents that affects the

water below the pycnocline (90% of ocean water) and are
Primarily driven by the density differences. The deep currents
Are larger and slower than the surface current.

Pycnocline is a layer in an ocean or other body of water in which water

density increases rapidly with depth.
A pycnocline is the cline
or layer where the
density gradient is
greatest within a body of
water. An ocean current
is generated by the
forces such as breaking
waves, temperature and
salinity differences,
wind, Coriolis effect, and
tides caused by the
gravitational pull of the
Moon and the Sun.
Surface Currents - The water of the ocean surface
moves in a regular pattern called surface ocean
currents. This movement caused primarily by winds
that blow in certain patterns because of
the Earth's spin and the Coriolis Effect

These winds that

blow in certain
patterns is
commonly
known as the
prevailing winds.
Prevailing
winds are winds that
blow consistently in a
given direction over a
particular region on
Earth. Due to factors such
as uneven heating from
the Sun and the Earth's
rotation, these winds
(prevailing) vary at
different latitudes on
Earth.
Because of the
consistency of
Prevailing Winds are
able to move the top
400 meters of the ocean
creating surface ocean
currents.
Surface ocean currents
form large circular
patterns known as no
other than gyres.

While this use of "gyre" is increasingly common, the term traditionally

refers simply to large, rotating ocean currents.
Deep currents are driven by
density and temperature
gradients. ... Because the
movement of deep
water in ocean basins is
caused by density-driven
forces and
gravity, deep waters sink
into deep ocean basins at high
latitudes where the
temperatures are cold enough
to cause the density to
increase.
Types of currents (continued…)
3. Warm currents are ocean currents carrying warm water
and flowing away from the equatorial region on the western
side of ocean basins.

(The Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic and the Kuroshio Current in the North Pacific are
examples of warm currents.)

4. Cold currents being the opposite of warm currents, cold

currents carry cold water and flow toward the equatorial region
on the eastern side of ocean basins.
( Examples of cold ocean currents include the Canary Current in the North Atlantic, the California
Current in the North Pacific, and the Benguela Current in the South Atlantic. )
!!!
Cold currents can also flow out of far northern regions. The
Labrador Current flows out of Baffin Bay and past Labrador, the
coastal part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland. This
current carries icebergs from Baffin Bay, creating a hazard for ships
in the North Atlantic.
The Labrador Current meets the Gulf Stream off the coast of
Newfoundland. When warm, moist air from the Gulf Stream blows
over the cold Labrador Current, water vapor condenses. This
results in some of the thickest fogs in the world.
List of Ocean Currents of the World
North Equatorial Current Warm

Kuroshio Current Warm

North Pacific Current Warm
Alaskan Current Warm
Equatorial Counter Current Warm

El Nino Current Warm

Tsushima Current Warm
South Equatorial Current Warm

East Australian Current Warm

Humboldt or Peruvian Current Cold

Kuril or Oya shio Current Cold

California Current Cold
Antarctica Current Cold
Okhotsk Current Cold
Florida Current Warm
Gulf Stream Warm
Norwegian Current Warm
Irminger Current Warm
Rannell Current Warm
Antilles Current Warm
Brazilian Current Warm
Labrador Current Cold
Canary Current Cold
Eastern Greenland Current Cold

Benguela Current Cold

Antarctica Current Cold
Falkland Current Cold
Mozambique Current Warm and Stable
Agulhas Current Warm and Stable
South-West Monsoon Current Warm and unstable

North-East Monsoon Current Cold and unstable

Somali Current Cold and unstable

Western Australian Current Cold and Stable

South Indian Ocean Current Cold

List of Ocean Gyres of the World
Major Ocean Gyres
• Indian Ocean Gyre
• North Atlantic Gyre
• South Atlantic Gyre
• North Pacific Gyre
• South Pacific Gyre

Polar Gyres
• Beaufort Gyre
• Ross Gyre
• Weddell Gyre
The 5 Major Gyres …
Beaufort Gyre

Ross Gyre
Weddell Gyre
Currents… (summary of…)

Currents flow at all depths…

Currents at any depth have vertical

and horizontal components,
whereas…

Currents at the upper layers of the

oceans are stronger and faster…
Deep currents are driven by density and temperature
gradients, otherwise known as the Thermo-haline
Circulation

Currents at the surface of

the oceans, the kind of
currents in which navigators
have interest, only have
horizontal component…
When wind blows over the surface
of the sea, frictional drag results,
causing the surface of the water to
move with the wind…Thus comes
the term “wind drift Current”.

Drift currents
- are wide, slow-moving ocean current principally caused
by prevailing winds.
- also known as drift; wind drift; wind-driven current.

But…
- as soon as the movement is imparted, geostrophic force
comes to make its effect…
And for matters about current
and geostrophic force come
Monsieur Gaspard-Gustave de
Coriolis and Herr Vagn Wilfrid
Ekmann …

Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis Vagn Wilfrid Ekmann

The effects of Geostrophic Force on
surface currents

ge·o·stroph·ic
METEOROLOGY and OCEANOGRAPHY

- relating to or denoting the component of a wind or current that

arises from a balance between pressure gradients and Coriolis
forces.
 The Ekman Theory
Ekman theory explains the theoretical state of circulation if water
currents were driven only by the transfer of momentum from the
wind. In the physical world, this is difficult to observe because of
the influences of many simultaneous current driving forces (for
example, pressure and density gradients)…
Though the following theory technically applies to the idealized
situation involving only wind forces, Ekman motion describes the
wind-driven portion of circulation seen in the surface layer.
Surface currents flow at a 45° angle to the wind due to a balance
between the Coriolis force and the drags generated by the wind
and the water. If the ocean is divided vertically into thin layers, the
magnitude of the velocity (the speed) decreases from a maximum
at the surface until it dissipates.
The direction also shifts
slightly across each
subsequent layer (right
in the northern
hemisphere and left in
the southern
hemisphere). This is
called the Ekman
spiral.
Viewed from above
in the Northern
Hemisphere, the
surface layer of
water moves at 45
degrees to the right
of the wind.

The net transport of

water through the
entire wind-driven
column (Ekman
transport) is 90
degrees to the right
of the wind.
The layer of water from
the surface to the point of
dissipation of this spiral is
known as the Ekman
layer.

If all flow over the Ekman

layer is integrated, the
net transportation is at
90° to the right (left) of
the surface wind in the
northern (southern)
hemisphere
The Strength of the current
Strength of currents depend on the period and fetch over
which the wind has been blowing.
( Fetch is the distance the wind travels unobstructed )

The onset of wind initially has little response in terms of

movement.
Only gradually that current builds up with the duration of time
the wind has been blowing

Light winds take about 6 hours to cause slight currents.

Limited fetch however restricts full development of current.
On the average, the ratio is 1:40
A 40-knot wind sustained in sufficient time produces only 1
knot current.
It may seem reasonable that hurricane force winds might give rise to 2-
knot current, provided that fetch and wind duration sufficed.

But in the cases of tropical

storms with high winds, the
effect is usually reduced due to
the limited fetch by the
curvature of the wind and by the
limited time within which the
wind blows in a particular
direction. Moreover, a tropical
storm progresses with its own
path.
Consequently, slow moving storms are more liable to cause
stronger currents.

When a tropical storm approaches or crosses an extended coast

line, there usually results a piling up of water on the coastal
side.

Sea level may rise 2-4 meters, depending on the occasion. The
rise in water level produces a stronger gradient current.

Gradient current occur when ever the water surface develops a

slope (incline).
Aside from piled up water brought about by the wind and the
coastline, atmospheric pressure exerted on the wide surface of
the ocean, as well as the juxtaposition of waters of different
density, temperature and salinity causes Gradient current
Upwelling often happens
where wind blows along a
coastline.
The wind causes the water at
the ocean surface to move
perpendicular to it, away from
the coast, because of a process
called Ekman transport.
When surface water moves away from the coast, water from deeper
in the ocean rises up and takes its place. This results to rising up of
water from deeper part of the sea to the surface along with the
nutrients, thereby contributing to the relative productivity of the
area.