ocean surface currants
Streamlike movements of water that occur at or near the surface of the ocean are
Surface Currents.
Finding Nemo may have added just a little
poetic license to the real
ways of the ocean.
surface currents can reach depths of
everal hundred meters and lengths
The movie would have you think
that the East Australian Current is a narrow
f Earth's surface were covered only with water
currents would travel in a fixed pattern across the Earth,
Surface currents flow like rivers in distinct patterns around
Earth.
The East Australian Current is not
the
fast-flowing warp-tube as it’s portrayed in
the movie
Global winds blowing across
the Earth’s surface
jet that you can jump in and out
as your thrill-seeking self desires.
but Earth’s surface is not covered only with water.
When currents meet landforms,
surface currents are controlled by
by four
factors:
global winds, the Coriolis effect,
continental deflections, and the water
temperature.
it’s an even better ride than that.
the turtles
Just as with winds,
the rotation of the Earth causes surface currents to move
But actually the real East Australian Current is much bigger and much wilder than
in the movie
they change direction.
This is known as continental deflection.
The Gulf Stream, which is one of the
longest surface currents
transports 25
times
Let’s start with what’s correct in the movie.
nemo
in curved paths rather than straight lines. Because of the
Coriolis Effect
The East Australian Current transports a staggering 40 million cubic metres of water
southward each second.
Warm water currents begin near the equator and carry warm water to other parts of the ocean.
Cold water currents begin closer to the poles and carry cool water t
transports 25
times
Florida to Iceland!
The East Australian Current does flow along
the East coast of Australia,
currents in the Northern Hemisphere turn
clockwise
of 16,000 Olympic swimming pools flowing along our coastline,
every second.
o other parts of the ocean. The map below shows the Earth's s
surface currents