Ocean Surface Currents
Streamlike movements of water that occur at or near the surface of the ocean
What are surface currents?
Flows along the East coast of Australia and flows southward from the Great Barrier Reef
What is The Eastern Australian Current?
When currents meet landforms, they change direction. This is called
What is continental deflection?
Stream-like movements of ocean water far below the ocean surface
What are deep currents?
These are made of are made of two main components - crests and troughs
What are waves?
Surface currents are controlled by these four
factors
What are global winds, the Coriolis effect,
continental deflections, and the water
temperature?
Speeds in the core of the EAC average what?
What is 4-5mph?
Where warm water currents begin
What is near the equator?
Deep currents are controlled by this
What is increases in water density?
The highest point of a wave
What is a crest?
One of the longest surface currents
The East Australian Current transports this many cubic metres of water southward each second.
What is 40 million cubic metres of water?
This causes changes in the atmosphere that disrupt the climate in many parts of the world. Warm-water currents create warmer climates in coastal areas that would otherwise be much cooler
What is surface currents warm and some cool coastal areas year-round?
These two things affect the density of ocean water.
What are temperature and salinity?
The lowest point of a wave
This creates surface currents
What are Global winds blowing across the Earth’s surface?
The EAC is shaped like this
What is a ribbon?
This creates warmer climates in coastal areas that would otherwise be much cooler (like Iceland).
What are warm water currents?
This causes the volume of the water decreases, and the water becomes denser.
What is Cold air chills the water molecules at the surface?
The distance between two adjust crests or troughs.
What is a wave length?
Causes surface currents to move in curved paths rather than straight lines
What is the the rotation of the Earth?
THis current is almost 100 km wide, and more than 1.5 km deep
What is the EAC?
These create cooler climates in coastal areas that would be much warmer (like San Francisco).
Water temperature becomes colder as the depth increases starting at this depth
The vertical distance between a waves crest and its trough.
What is the wave height?