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Oct 19, 2023 · Ocean currents flow like vast rivers, sweeping along predictable paths. Some ocean currents flow at the surface; others flow deep within water. Some currents flow for short distances; others cross entire ocean basins and even circle the globe.
When you look underwater, what is making the seagrass wave in the water? The answer is ocean currents. Ocean currents are continuous movements of water in the ocean that follow set paths, kind of like rivers in the ocean.
Currents driven by thermohaline circulation occur at both deep and shallow ocean levels and move much slower than tidal or surface currents. The Currents Tutorial is an overview of the types of currents, what causes them, how they are measured, and how they affect people's lives.
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Currents are coherent streams of water moving through the ocean and include both long, permanent features such as the Gulf Stream, as well as smaller, episodic flows in both coastal waters and the open ocean. They are formed primarily by wind blowing across the surface of the ocean and by differences in the temperature, density and pressure of ...
Ocean currents are simply masses of water in motion and these circulate the water and all that’s in it. Driven by wind and other forces, currents on the ocean surface cover our planet. Some span hundreds to thousands of miles across vast ocean basins in well-defined flows.
Ocean surface currents are produced by global winds, the Coriolis effect and the shape of each ocean basin. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans have a circular pattern of surface currents called gyres that circle clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern.
Learn about the ocean in motion and how ocean surface currents play a role in navigation, global pollution, and Earth's climate. Also discover how observations of these currents are crucial in making climate predictions.
