Chapter 9

Circulation of the Ocean

Surface Currents Are Driven by the Winds
The westerlies and the
trade winds are two of the
winds that drive the ocean’s
surface currents.
About 10% of the water in
the world ocean is involved
in surface currents, water
flowing horizontally in the
uppermost 400 meters
(1,300 feet) of the ocean’s
surface, driven mainly by
wind friction.
(left) Winds, driven by
uneven solar heating and
Earth’s spin, drive the
movement of the ocean’s
surface currents. The prime
movers are the powerful
westerlies and the
persistent trade winds
(easterlies).
 Surface Currents

What are some effects of ocean currents?

Transfer heat from tropical to polar regions

Influence weather and climate
Distribute nutrients and scatter organisms

Surface currents are driven by wind:

Most of Earth’s surface wind energy is concentrated in the

easterlies and westerlies.
Due to the forces of gravity, the Coriolis effect, and winds,
water often moves in a circular pattern called a gyre.
 Surface Currents Are Driven by the
Winds

The gyres circulate clockwise

in the Northern Hemisphere
and counterclockwise in the
Southern Hemisphere.

The North Atlantic gyre, a

series of four
interconnecting currents
with different flow
characteristics and
temperatures.
Surface Currents Flow around the
Periphery of Ocean Basins

Surface water blown

by the winds at point
A will veer to the
right of its initial
path and continue to
the east.

Water at point B
veers right and
continues to the west.
 Surface Currents Flow around the Periphery of Ocean Basins

The Ekman spiral and the mechanism by which it operates.

 90° to the right of wind
direction is up here

d
in
w
e
ad
Tr
At 15°N
30°
–4
5°

Stepped Art
Fig. 9-6, p. 237
 Surface Currents Flow around the Periphery of Ocean Basins

Consider the North Atlantic.

The surface is raised through wind

motion and Ekman transport to form a
low hill. The westward-moving water at The hill is formed by Ekman
B ‘feels’ a balanced pull from two transport. Water turns clockwise
forces: the one due to Coriolis effect (inward) to form the dome, then
(which would turn the water to the descends, depressing the
right) and the one due to the pressure thermocline.
gradient, driven by gravity (which would
turn it to the left).
 Seawater Flows in Six Great Surface Circuits

Geostrophic gyres are gyres in balance between the pressure gradient

and the Coriolis effect. Of the six great currents in the world’s ocean,
five are geostrophic gyres. Note the western boundary currents in this
map.
Boundary Currents Have Different Characteristics
Western boundary currents – These are narrow, deep,
warm, fast currents found at the western boundaries of
ocean basins.
The Gulf Stream

The Japan Current

The Brazil Current

The Agulhas Current

The Eastern Australian Current

Eastern boundary currents – These currents are cold,

shallow and broad, and their boundaries are not well
defined.
The Canary Current

The Benguela Current

The California Current

The West Australian Current

The Peru Current

Boundary Currents Have Different Characteristics
The general surface circulation of the North Atlantic.

Unit for measuring

flow rates (or
volume transported
by ocean currents):
sverdrups
1 sv = 1 million cubic
meters of water per
second
Boundary Currents Have Different
Characteristics

Eddy formation
The western boundary of the Gulf Stream is usually
distinct, marked by abrupt changes in water
temperature, speed, and direction.
(a) Meanders (eddies) form at this boundary as the
Gulf Stream leaves the U.S. coast at Cape
Hatteras. The meanders can pinch off (b) and
eventually become isolated cells of warm water
between the Gulf Stream and the coast (c).
Likewise, cold cells can pinch off and become
entrained in the Gulf Stream itself (d). (C = cold
water, W = warm water; blue = cold, red = warm.)
Surface Currents Affect Weather and Climate
General summer air
circulation patterns of
the east and west coasts
of the United States.
Warm ocean currents are
shown in red; cold
currents, in blue. Air is
chilled as it approaches
the west coast and
warmed as it approaches
the east coast.
 Surface Currents Affect Weather and Climate
Wind induced vertical circulation is vertical movement induced by
wind-driven horizontal movement of water.

Upwelling is the upward motion of water. This motion brings cold,

nutrient rich water towards the surface.

Downwelling is downward motion of water. It supplies the deeper

ocean with dissolved gases.
Consider: West and East Winds

15
 Thermohaline Circulation Affects All the Ocean’s Water

The movement of water due to different densities is thermohaline

circulation.

Remember that the ocean is density stratified, with the densest

water at the bottom. There are five common water masses:

• Surface water = 0-200m

• Central water = 200-thermocline
• Intermediate water = thermocline-1500m
• Deep water = 1500-4000m
• Bottom water = 4000-bottom
• Density Structure
– Temperature increase = density decrease
– Salinity increase = density increase

• Density Changes
– Evaporation
– Sea ice formation
– Melting
– River influx
– Precipitation

Caballing = the mixing and sinking of water masses

• Thermohaline Circulation
– Vertical, density driven circulation, resulting from change in
temperature and salinity

• Continuity of flow
– Water is a relatively fixed quantity in the oceans
– Water can not accumulate in one location or be removed from
another location without movement of water between those
locations

• Vertical movement of water

• Horizontal movement of water
Thermohaline Circulation (THC), Surface Circulation, and
Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC, global heat
connection)
Water Masses May Converge, Fall, Travel across the Seabed,
and Slowly Rise

A model of thermocline
circulation caused by heating in
lower latitudes and cooling in
higher latitudes. The thermocline
at middle and low latitudes is
“held up” by the slow upward
movement of cold water.

The water layers and deep

circulation of the Atlantic
Ocean. Arrows indicate the
direction of water
movement. Convergence
zones are areas where water
masses approach one
another.
The Southern Ocean
Dansgaard–Oeschger events (often abbreviated D–O events) are rapid
climate fluctuations that occurred 25 times during the last glacial period, from
approximately 110,000 to 12,000 years ago
MOC: Variability (Agulhas Leakage, Malvinas Current)
 Chapter 9 - Summary
• Ocean water circulates in currents caused mainly by wind
friction at the surface and by differences in water mass
density beneath the surface zone.
• Water near the ocean surface moves to the right of the
wind direction in the Northern Hemisphere, and to the
left in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The Coriolis effect modifies the courses of currents, with
currents turning clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere
and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The
Coriolis effect is largely responsible for the phenomenon
of westward intensification in both hemispheres.
• Upwelling and downwelling describe the vertical
movements of water masses. Upwelling is often due to the
divergence of surface currents; downwelling is often
caused by surface current convergence or an increase in
the density of surface water.
 Chapter 9 - Summary
• El Niño, an anomaly in surface circulation, occurs when
the trade winds falter, allowing warm water to build
eastward across the Pacific at the equator.
• Circulation of the 90% of ocean water beneath the
surface zone is driven by gravity, as dense water sinks
and less dense water rises. Since density is largely a
function of temperature and salinity, the movement of
deep water due to density differences is called
thermohaline circulation.
• Water masses almost always form at the ocean surface.
The densest (and deepest) masses were formed by
surface conditions that caused water to become very
cold and salty.
• Because they transfer huge quantities of heat, ocean
currents greatly affect world weather and climate.