The ocean current is not only being affected by natural phenomena but it also can be affected by human activities. Ocean currents transfer heat from one part of the world to another, and this movement of heat affects the climate; Subjects. Ocean Adaptations . Upwelling takes place in some coastlines along the equator. 2.4k plays . The action created by tides can impact both types of currents by modifying depth levels and water displacement. Of all the movements in the oceanic water, ocean currents are the most important. Through this analogy you can understand better why throwing garbage to the sea will create sedimentation and it will also changing the ocean current. Ocean currents are created by wind, water temperature, salt content, and the gravity of the moon. And also, hopefully through this article you can realize how important our role as a human inside the ecosystem. These waters make up the other 90% of the ocean. At the surface the wind, earth rotation, density gradients, gravity and pressure gradients determine the currents. The ocean currents may be classified based on their depth as surface currents and deep water currents: surface currents constitute about 10 per cent of all the water in the ocean, these waters are the upper 400 m of the ocean; deep water currents make up the other 90 per cent of the ocean water. This video explains in detail the phenomenon of ocean currents and their role in nature. When you learn about the ocean surface current you will know about gyres. 2. The current help our climate to stay in balance because it will move the water with a certain temperature to another places that has a different temperature. The wind can move about 400 m of the top ocean water and because of this, the wind affect the ocean current. Ocean Currents . 15 Qs . Deep Water Currents--Thermohaline Circulation. Waves 2. The pushing action of these winds makes the waters flow as they do. Term of Use | Privacy Policy | Adchoices | Disclaimer | Contacts us. Even though the wind became one of the factor that affect the surface current but the effect is quite big. The ocean surface current is the current that carry heat from one place to another places and make the temperature stay in balance. There are two types of gyres which are the flow clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere oceans and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Wind-driven circulation. Warm ocean currents originate near the equator and move towards the poles or higher latitudes while cold currents originate near the poles or higher latitudes and move towards the tropics or … 9th - 12th grade. Mainly there are two types: the surface circulation and the bottom circulation. They can flow for thousands of miles and are found in all the major oceans of the world. Waves, Currents, and Tides . Surface Currents--Surface Circulation. 8. But not only that, we should know more about the ocean current. Even though the wind became one of the factor that affect the surface current but the effect is quite big. These currents generally move in the deep ocean and are caused by temperature, the shape of the ocean … Tides 3. The currents associated with the tides are called flood currents (incoming tide) and ebb currents (outgoing tide). Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Taking an analogy of a hose. They’re primarily driven by winds and by seawater density, although many other factors – including the shape and configuration of the ocean basin they flow through – influence them. Or what species of fish that has a migration against the ocean currents. Through the rotation of the water it self our climate is stay in balance because both side is always rotating and making the temperature in balance. Surface means the current will only exist in the ocean water surface. The deep current moves toward the equator and warms up, becoming less dense and rising to the surface in “upwellings.”. We might not see it directly but it can also bring impact to us. However both of them will have horizontal and vertical movement. When the movement of deep ocean current is upwelling this means that the cold water from the bottom of the ocean is going up to the surface. The wind that caused the surface ocean water current is not as big as the wind that caused the down-welling. While ocean currents themselves can have flow rates of hundreds or thousands of Sv per second, the total Sv flow for all the freshwater sources in the world is only equal to about 1 Sv: a demonstration of the massive scale of ocean currents compared to the flow of rivers. It can drives our ocean current into a different track and make it does such a chaos. These are called "tidal currents." Instead of airflow, these currents primarily arise from variations in the density of seawater, controlled by its temperature and salt content (salinity). Ocean Waves and Currents . Some currents flow for short distances; others cross entire ocean basins and even circle the globe. Theories 5. Due to this transfer of heat, climate near large bodies of water is often extreme and at times, unpredictable. Characteristic of Drought Season and Countries Experiencing It, 6 Factors Affecting Air Temperature and The Explanation, Causes of Typhoon Hagibis and The Impacts of Mitigation Methods, Sand Boil Phenomenon Explanation and How to Overcome, Characteristics of Freshwater Swamp Forests – Functions – Distributions. Finally, the lesson contrasts the differences between surface and deep ocean currents. Knowing the ocean current is important for fisheries and another water transportation. One major example of an ocean current is the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. In our geography notes on the hydrosphere, we have seen the major movements of the ocean water. Some ocean currents flow at the surface; others flow deep within water. Today, I would like to share you with about the types of ocean currents. This current can be affected by wind, weather condition and tides (because of gravity). What are the two types of ocean currents? For sure this route is made based on the fish migration from one place to another places. Ocean currents are primarily horizontal water movements. Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images, NOAA: Ocean Service Education -- Currents: The Global Conveyor Belt, NOAA: National Weather Service -- Ocean Circulations. The condition will be different if there is no rock inside the hose, the water will flow better without the existence of the rock inside it. Some of the more prominent currents include the California and Humboldt Currents in the Pacific, the Gulf Stream and Labrador Current in the Atlantic, and the Indian Monsoon Current in the Indian Ocean. Even though down-welling and surface ocean water current look alike but they are two different things. Ocean current is also important for the last of many living beings. More over if you read about whale, most of them are dive into a deeper part of the ocean in search of plankton and nutrient to fulfill their body needs.  They are found below 400 meters and make up about 90% of the ocean. Surface means the current will only exist in the ocean water surface. This cold, dense, saltier water sinks to the seafloor, replaced by surface waters that repeat the process. Introduction to Ocean Tides: Waves, currents and tides are of vital signifi­cance among various types of oceanic movements. Oceanic currents are driven by several factors. These sedimentation will change the ocean’s bottom structure. Taking an example of tides current, rip current, long-shore current, and etc and most of them are classified into the surface ocean current. Do not forget to keep following our website! Which type of ocean movement is a large-scale pattern that can circulate across all the oceans? Ocean currents are patterns of water movement and patterns that influence climate zones and weather patterns around the world. Movements of ocean water are also affected by external forces like the sun, moon and the winds.The major movements of the ocean waters can be classified into three. MHRD NME-ICT  Deep water currents are another category of ocean currents. Then, deep ocean currents occupy the other 90%. Warm currents are masses of warm water with higher temperatures moving away from the equator. 5.1k plays . Warm Currents and Cold Currents: There are two types of ocean currents. Deep ocean current means the current is beneath the ocean. There will be more interesting article that you should not be missed! Deep-water currents describe water movement patterns far below the ocean’s surface and the influence of the wind. Types 4. The good impact that we can feel up to now is that the existence of fish. The two basic types of currents – surface and deep-water currents – help define the character and flow of ocean waters across the planet. Equatorial currents; The subtropical gyres; The subpolar gyres; The Antarctic Circumpolar Current; Thermohaline circulation The wind can move about 400 m of the top ocean water and because of this, the wind affect the ocean current. As you know that heat energy or in this case is the ocean water from equator region will move to the cooler place which is the polar region. It can bring 4500 times more water compare to the amount of water in the Mississippi River. Distribution of ocean currents; Causes of ocean currents. When the structure is changed for sure it will affect the ocean current. Studying about the ocean current also help us to know the fishing route. One is the rise and fall of the tides, which is driven by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon on Earth's oceans. Tidal currents are the only type of current affected by the interactions of the Earth, sun, and moon. The moon’s force is much greater than that of the sun because it is 389 times closer to the Earth than the sun is. They can move water horizontally and vertically and occur on both local and global scales. Names, direction, nature....and what not! There are two type of Ocean Currents: 1. Surface ocean currents are typically wind-driven, resulting in both horizontal and vertical water movement. Both types of ocean currents are measured using units called Sverdrup (Sv). Like the winds controlling them, these surface currents help redistribute heat at a planetary scale: Generally speaking warm water flows toward the poles and cold water flows toward the equator. Early on, the study of currents was important due to shipping concerns: A knowledge of ocean currents allowed sailors to safely reach their destination, or to get there more quickly. The following factors cause ocean currents: (a) The prevailing winds are the major cause of the ocean waters moving in a definite direction. Origin of Ocean Tides 3. An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Because of this, the temperature in the pole is not extremely cold. Tidal currents, just like tides, are affected by the different phases of the moon. This is a product of Mexus Education Pvt. TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) Two major kinds of currents define the planet's oceans: surface currents driven by wind and deep-water currents driven by variations in … Two major kinds of currents define the planet's oceans: surface currents driven by wind and deep-water currents driven by variations in seawater density. Name two facts about surface currents. You all know that the ocean water is never still. Well, you might have heard so many names like Kuroshio current, Oyashio current, Peru current etc. Which are upwelling and downwelling. Basically, gyres is a large form of ocean current. Ocean current has an important role for our world’s climate. Surface currents develop anti-clockwise spirals in the southern hemisphere. TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) Two major kinds of currents define the planet's oceans: surface currents driven by wind and deep-water currents driven by variations in … Besides that, the Coriolis effect is an effect caused by the wind that makes the ocean current track is shift from its normal wind direction. The water in the bottom of the ocean is rich of nutrient. These waters are the upper 400 meters of the ocean. There is one surface current that carries the biggest amount of ocean water in the North Atlantic Ocean which is The Gulf Stream. Cold currents are formed when the air circulating the eastern side of the subtropical high is blown over cold water mass and are then dragged toward the equator. Arts and Humanities. Pressure gradients; Coriolis effect; Frictional forces; Geostrophic currents; Ekman layer; Two types of ocean circulation. The oceans transfer heat by their currents, which take hot water from the equator up to higher latitudes and cold water back down toward the equator. Such as, gas cycling, conveyor belt, and etc. When you put a rock inside the hose, the water will move upward and it flows harder than before because it was looking for a hole to be passed. Now, moving on to another deep ocean current type of down-welling. The deeper part of the ocean you dive in, the more plankton and nutrient that you will find. Currents also affect people in other ways, though. These waters make up about 10% of all the water in the ocean. She received a bachelor's degree in economics and management from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. 1.6k plays . When the moon, sun, and Earth line up, particularly strong tides (“spring tides”) result that can dramatically affect water levels. Types of Ocean Currents Based on depth. With this kind of information that we know about the ocean current we can save more money to buy fuel for our ships. Oceanic currents are found all over the globe and vary in size, importance, and strength. These currents transfer heat from the tropics to the polar regions, influencing local and global climate. These waters move around the ocean basins by density driven forces and gravity. 12 Qs . Surface currents refer to movement of the top layer of ocean water – the upper 330 feet or so – primarily driven by wind. It is also known as conveyor belt. The wind cause the ocean current track shift about 45 degree to the right or left from the normal wind direction. Surface currents, which include coastal currents and surface ocean currents, are driven primarily by winds. Tides are, in fact, the most important of all the oceanic movements because tidal currents affect the whole water mass from the sea surface to the bottom. Besides that, the existence of ocean current can help the life cycle of some species of fish that usually move to one place to another places to breed. This current can be affected by wind, weather condition and tides (because of gravity). We can learn on what kind of fish species that has a migration following the ocean current. Warm currents are those which flow from the low latitudes in tropical zones towards the high latitudes in the temperate and sub-polar zones. The two basic types of currents – surface and deep-water currents – help define the character and flow of ocean waters across the planet. Like the planetary winds, currents too are deflected … When you learn about the ocean surface current you will know about … There are some factor that affect the ocean current such as the wind, temperature, depth, salinity, and etc. The other types of currents, deep ocean currents, also known as thermohaline circulation or ocean conveyer belts. They are - waves, tides and ocean currents. Explanation of Split Sea Phenomenon in Suramadu. For example, the wind, tides, water density, rotation and even ocean floor topography influences currents in the oceans. By moving heat from the equator toward the poles, ocean currents play an important role in controlling the climate. And because of that transport, the ekman transport also creating the ekman spiral where there is a water layers exist with a different direction and speed. To let you know more about this I will explain it to you one by one. Ocean currents hugely impact humankind and the biosphere in general, first and foremost due to their influence on climate. Because I am pretty sure you don’t know yet about how the wind affecting and creating the downwelling effect I would like to explain to you about the ekman transport and coriolis effect. Beside it helps distribute the nutrient through the ocean evenly, it also has another function. The ocean has an interconnected current, or circulation, system powered by wind, tides, the Earth’s rotation (Coriolis effect), the sun (solar energy), and water density differences. These currents move because of solar heating and … The existence of ocean current can occur both local and global. Both bad and good impact can we do to our ecosystem just like a simple example of throwing garbage to the ocean. Pressure gradients; Coriolis effect; Frictional forces; Geostrophic currents; Ekman layer; Two types of ocean circulation. Languages. They are related to different characteristics of ocean waters, rotational mechanism of the earth, external factors or atmospheric factors, topographic characteristics of the coasts and ocean basins. Tides create a current in the oceans, near the shore, and in bays and estuaries along the coast. There are different types of movements of ocean water under the influence of different physical characteristics like temperature, salinity, density, etc. Ocean currents are also critically important to sea life. Down-welling is a condition where the water from the ocean surface is going down. Having covered the fundamentals, we shall see in this post, a super-fast way to learn the details of ocean currents. When human throw garbage to the ocean, the garbage such as plastic waste will polluting the ocean and it will be accumulated in the sea bottom and it will create sedimentation in the ocean’s bottom. © DeepOceanFacts.com -All Right Reserved. 2.9k plays . Depth contours, shoreline configurations, and interactions with other currents influence a current's direction and strength. Their movement forms thermohaline circulation (“thermo” meaning temperature, “haline” meaning salinity) which crosses ocean basins and links to surface currents in what’s called the “global conveyor belt.”, In very simplified form, water moving into the polar regions gets cold enough to freeze into ice, leaving its share of salt behind; this makes the underlying water saltier, which in turn makes it denser. She received her LEED accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2008 and is in the process of working towards an Architectural Hardware Consultant certification from the Door and Hardware Institute. The 5 Effects of Climate Change on Marine... How Climate Change Affect The Color of Sea... How Global Warming Damage The Coral Reefs. Science - 5th . Large-scale surface ocean currents are driven by global wind systems that are fueled by energy from the sun. With the existence of ocean current, water will move to one place to another places. For example, surface currents control the motion of about 10% of the upper ocean space. DRAFT. This creates high and low tides twice a day, which occur at different times in different parts of the world. Emily Beach works in the commercial construction industry in Maryland. Sverdrup measures current flow rates, where 1 Sv is equal to 10 to the 6th power cubic meters per second, or about 265 million gallons per second. Based on the depth there are two types of ocean current which are the surface and deep ocean current. There are two types of deep ocean current movement. Horizontal surface currents that are local and typically short term include rip currents, longshore currents, and tidal currents. As the Earth rotates around the sun and the moon, the gravitational pull of each celestial body causes ocean levels to be slightly deeper at certain times. This is simply because we let the ocean current drives our ship into our destination.  Like surface currents, gravity plays a dominant role in the creation of deep water currents. Equatorial currents; The subtropical gyres; The subpolar gyres; The Antarctic Circumpolar Current; Thermohaline circulation The warm Gulf Stream originating in the tropical Caribbean, for instance, carries about 150 times more water than the Amazon River. Usually, the horizontal movement of ocean current is short. Wind-driven circulation. The ocean currents may be classified based on their depth as surface currents and deep water currents; (i) surface currents constitute about 10 percent of all the water in the ocean, these waters are the upper 400 m of the ocean. Ocean currents are located at the ocean surface and in deep water below 300 meters (984 feet). That is all about today’s article of types of ocean current. The two basic types of currents – surface and deep-water currents – help define the character and flow of ocean waters across the planet. Currents form rotating systems in the middle of major ocean systems called gyres. Because, no matter how small thing you have done can create a big big impact toward our ecosystem. Ocean CurrentsWaves and the ocean currents … Hopefully now you know more about the importance of ocean current and this will make you want to learn more about it. This kind of condition of down-welling can be caused by a strong wind and it results ekman transport and the Coriolis effect. The current's direction and speed depend on the shoreline and the ocean floor. Math. Currents can be distinguished from tides, regular increases and decreases in the level of the sea surface. Surface Currents and Deep Ocean Currents. Currents, Waves, and Tides oh my. Water Currents. From that nutrient, plankton in the upper part of the ocean can get another food source that keep them alive. The ocean water in the equator areas will be hotter compare to the ocean water in the polar region. Today, an understanding of ocean currents can dramatically reduce shipping times and fuel costs. The large-scale circulation of these surface currents roughly mirrors the large-scale circulation of air, which most simply derives from unequal heating of the planet’s surface by the sun. Distribution of ocean currents; Causes of ocean currents. Ocean currents that occur at 328 feet (100 meters) deep or above usually are classified as surface currents. Human activities that can affect the ocean current such as throwing garbage to the sea, mining, coastal development, and etc. They are: 1. Competitive sailors also closely surface currents to improve race results. They are also called as thermohaline circulation. Anyways, thank you for reading this article until the end and also thank you for following our website. 20 Qs . Ekman transport is a theory that explain about the movement of water surface because of wind. Having reliable knowledge about the tides and tidal currents is important for navigating ships safely, and for engineering projects such as tidal and … The currents in the oceans are originated due to combined effects of several internal as well as external factors, which control the origin and other characteristics of ocean current. And or by another words we would like to use ocean current as a natural mover for ship will be more beneficial for us. Cold ocean currents are masses of cold water moving from high latitude towards the equator absorbing the heat received in the tropics thus cooling the air above. Local and typically short term include rip currents, just like tides, regular increases and decreases the! 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