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Week 22 Day 4 - Ocean Currents

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18 views12 pages

Week 22 Day 4 - Ocean Currents

Uploaded by

Hansini
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Welcome to class!

• CJ: • Do Now:
• Ocean Currents • Remember to save room
• QUIZ: January 17th for yesterday’s notes in
• OPEN NOTE your notebook!
• Assignments: • Be ready to finish yesterday’s
• Finish notes notes.
Currents
• Currents: stream-like movements of water flowing through the
world’s oceans.
• 3 main types of ocean currents:
• Coastal Currents
• Surface Currents
• Deep Currents
Coastal Currents
• There are three types of
coastal currents:
• Upwelling Current
• Longshore Current
• Rip Current
• Coastal currents happen
where the ocean water
meets land.
Upwelling Currents
• Upwelling- winds blowing across the ocean surface push water away. Water
then rises from beneath the surface to replace the water that was pushed
away.
• New water tends to be full of nutrients from the sea floor.
• This phenomenon happens most often along coastlines, creating nutrient
rich waters close to shore.
Longshore Currents
• Moves along the shore
• Formed when waves approach shore at an off angle in the direction
of the local wind.
• Causes beach drift - Erosion
Rip Currents
• Strong, localized, and narrow channels of fast-moving water
• Pull water directly away from the beach and out to sea
• Very fast moving, up to 8 feet per second
• Common along all coasts in the United States, and even the Great
Lakes
Surface Currents
• Horizontal currents that occur at or near the ocean’s surface
• Primarily effected by:
• Winds
• Coriolis effect (remember this from winds and atmosphere?)
• Temperature
• Deflection due to land masses
• Without land, currents would continue to move freely around the
world
• Early explorers and merchants used knowledge of these currents to
help make travel across oceans faster
Surface Currents
• When talking
about climate,
we called them
Ocean Gyres
• Help redistribute
heat around the
world
Deep Currents
• Currents that flow deep below the ocean’s surface
• Controlled by differences in density caused by changes in
temperature and salinity
• Deep current movements:
• Warm water moves from equator towards poles and cools down
• Cold water sinks
• Deep current carries water back toward equator where it warms up
• Process repeats
Gulf Stream
• The Gulf Stream carries warm
water from the equatorial
portions of the Atlantic Ocean
north and east
• Up the east coast of North America
• To northern and western Europe
• Even Western Africa
• Warms northern Europe
• Makes it livable compared to other
places at the same latitude.
Dangerous Currents
• Rip Currents can drag unwary swimmers and beachgoers out into
the ocean, stranding them.
• They may get stuck underwater by the waves themselves, drowning.
• Waves can cause injuries – it is a massive amount of water crashing
down.
• Despite this, surfers still get out there and face the waves.
• While the rate of injury is low, it still happens.
• People can die from rip currents and waves.
End of Class
• How Currents Work (4.5 min)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4pWafuvdrY&ab_channel=TE
D-Ed
• Why Large Ships don’t sink in bad weather (6 min)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_cG5elxOg&ab_channel=Inte
restingEngineering

• Have a Great Day!

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