CHAPTER 7 Ocean Circulation

Fig. CO7
Ocean currents
 Moving seawater
 Surface ocean currents
 Transfer heat from warmer to cooler
areas
 Similar to pattern of major wind belts

 Affect coastal climates

 Deep ocean currents

 Provide oxygen to deep sea

 Affect marine life

Types of ocean currents
 Surface currents
 Wind-driven

 Primarily horizontal motion

 Deep currents
 Driven by differences in density caused

by differences in temperature and

salinity
 Vertical and horizontal motions
Measuring surface currents
 Direct methods
 Floating device tracked through time
 Fixed current meter

 Indirect methods
 Pressure gradients
 Radar altimeters

 Doppler flow meter

Fig. 7.1a
Measuring surface currents

Fig. 7.2
Measuring deep currents
 Floating devices tracked through time
 Chemical tracers

 Tritium
 Chlorofluorocarbons

 Characteristic temperature and

salinity
Surface currents
 Frictional drag between wind and
ocean
 Wind plus other factors such as

 Distribution of continents

 Gravity

 Friction

 Coriolis effect cause

 Gyres or large circular loops of

moving water
Ocean gyres
 Subtropical gyres
 Centered about 30o

N or S
 Equatorial current
 Western Boundary
currents
 Northern or Southern
Boundary currents
 Eastern Boundary
currents
Fig. 7.4
Other surface currents
 Equatorial countercurrents
 Subpolar gyres

Fig. 7.5
 Ekman spiral
 Surface currents move at angle to wind
 Ekman spiral describes speed and direction of
seawater flow at different depths
 Each successive layer moves increasingly to right
(N hemisphere)

Fig. 7.6
 Ekman transport
 Average movement of seawater under
influence of wind
 90o to right of wind in Northern hemisphere
 90o to left of wind in Southern hemisphere

Fig. 7.7
Geostrophic flow
 Ekman transport
piles up water
within subtropical
gyres
 Surface water
flows downhill
(gravity) and
 Also to the right
(Coriolis effect)
 Balance of
downhill and to
the right causes
geostrophic flow
around the “hill”
Fig. 7.8
Western intensification
 Top of hill of water displaced toward
west due to Earth’s rotation
 Western boundary currents intensified
 Faster

 Narrower

 Deeper

 Warm
 Eastern Boundary Currents
 Eastern side of ocean basins
 Tend to have the opposite properties of
Western Currents
 Cold
 Slow
 Shallow
 Wide
Ocean currents and climate
 Warm ocean currents warm air at
coast
 Warm, humid air
 Humid climate on adjoining landmass

 Cool ocean currents cool air at coast

 Cool, dry air
 Dry climate on adjoining landmass
Ocean
currents
and
climate

Fig. 7.9
 Diverging surface seawater
 Surface
seawater
moves away
 Deeper
seawater
(cooler,
nutrient-rich)
replaces
surface water
 Upwelling
 High
Fig. 7.10
biological
productivity
Converging surface seawater
 Surface seawater
moves towards
an area
 Surface seawater
piles up
 Seawater moves
downward
 Downwelling
 Low biological
productivity Fig. 7.11
Coastal upwelling and downwelling
 Ekman transport
moves surface
seawater
onshore
(downwelling) or
 Offshore
(upwelling)

Fig. 7.12a
Fig. 7.12b
 Antarctic circulation
 Antarctic Circumpolar
Current (West Wind
Drift)
 Encircles Earth
 Transports more
water than any other
current
 East Wind Drift
 Antarctic Divergence
 Antarctic
Convergence

Fig. 7.14
Atlantic Ocean circulation
 North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre
 North Equatorial Current
 Gulf Stream
 North Atlantic Current
 Canary Current
 South Equatorial Current
 Atlantic Equatorial Counter Current
Fig. 7.16
 Atlantic Ocean circulation
 South Atlantic
Subtropical Gyre
 Brazil Current
 Antarctic
Circumpolar
Current
 Benguela Current
 South Equatorial
Current

Fig. 7.14
Gulf Stream
 Best studied
 Meanders
or loops
 Warm-core
rings
 Cold-core
rings
 Unique
biological
populations
Fig. 7.17b
Other North Atlantic currents
 Labrador Current
 Irminger Current
 Norwegian Current
 North Atlantic Current
Climate effects of North Atlantic
currents
 Gulf Stream warms East coast of U.S. and
Northern Europe
 North Atlantic and Norwegian Currents
warm northwestern Europe
 Labrador Current cools eastern Canada
 Canary Current cools North Africa coast
Pacific Ocean circulation
 North Pacific
subtropical
gyre
 Kuroshio
 North Pacific
Current
 California
Current
 North
Equatorial
Current Fig. 7.18
 Alaskan
Current
Pacific Ocean circulation
 South Pacific subtropical gyre
 East Australian Current
 Antarctic Circumpolar Current
 Peru Current
 South Equatorial Current
 Equatorial Counter Current
Atmospheric and oceanic
disturbances in Pacific Ocean
 Normal conditions
 Air pressure across equatorial Pacific is higher
in eastern Pacific
 Strong southeast trade winds
 Pacific warm pool on western side
 Thermocline deeper on western side
 Upwelling off the coast of Peru
Normal conditions

Fig. 7.20a
Atmospheric and oceanic disturbances
in Pacific Ocean
 El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
 Warm (El Niño) and cold phases (La Niña)
 High pressure in eastern Pacific weakens
 Weaker trade winds
 Warm pool migrates eastward
 Thermocline deeper in eastern Pacific
 Downwelling
 Lower biological productivity
 Corals particularly sensitive to warmer

seawater
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Warm
phase (El Niño)

Fig. 7.20b
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO): cool
phase (La Niña)

 Increased pressure difference across

equatorial Pacific
 Stronger trade winds
 Stronger upwelling in eastern Pacific
 Shallower thermocline
 Cooler than normal seawater
 Higher biological productivity
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Cool phase (La Niña)

Fig. 7.20c
ENSO events
 El Niño warm phase about every 2 to 10 years
 Highly irregular
 Phases usually last 12 to 18 months

Fig. 7.22
ENSO events
 Strong conditions influence global weather, e.g.,
1982-1983 El Niño
 Flooding, drought, erosion, fires, tropical storms,
harmful effects on marine life

Fig. 7.21
Thermohaline circulation
 Below the pycnocline
 90% of all ocean water
 Slow velocity
 Movement caused by differences in
density (temperature and salinity)
 Cooler seawater denser

 Saltier seawater denser

Thermohaline circulation
 Originates in
high latitude
surface ocean
 Once surface
water sinks
(high density) it
changes little
 Deep-water
masses
identified on T-S
diagram

Fig. 7.25
Thermohaline circulation
 Selected deep-water masses
 Antarctic Bottom Water

 North Atlantic Deep Water

 Antarctic Intermediate Water

 Oceanic Common Water

 Cold surface seawater sinks at polar

regions and moves equatorward

Thermohaline circulation

Fig. 7.26
Conveyor-belt circulation
 Combination deep ocean currents and surface
currents

Fig. 7.27
Deep ocean currents
 Cold, oxygen-rich surface water to
deep ocean
 Dissolved O important for life and
2
mineral processes
 Changes in thermohaline circulation

can cause global climate change

 Example, warmer surface waters less
dense, not sink, less oxygen deep ocean
End of CHAPTER 7
Ocean Circulation