What happens to ocean water as it moves towards the equator?
While wind or an ocean current moves, the Earth is spinning underneath it. Wind or water that travels toward the poles from the equator is deflected to the east, while wind or water that travels toward the equator from the poles gets bent to the west. The Coriolis Effect bends the direction of surface currents.
What happens to the ocean water heated by the sun at the equator?
When the sun heats water at the surface of the ocean, some of the water will evaporate and increase the concentration of salt in the water at the surface. The sun also heats up the air in the atmosphere at the equator. This air will move toward the poles and cool over time.
What process is happening when the ocean water is very deep?
These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water’s density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation. Surface water is pulled in to replace the sinking water, which in turn eventually becomes cold and salty enough to sink.
Do deep ocean currents carry warm water from the equator?
Deep currents move and mix water around the world. They carry cold water from the poles toward the equator.
Which ocean movement is slow moving and occurs in deep waters?
3. Thermohaline circulation. This is a process driven by density differences in water due to temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline) variations in different parts of the ocean. Currents driven by thermohaline circulation occur at both deep and shallow ocean levels and move much slower than tidal or surface currents.
What causes water to rise near the equator?
Upwelling is a result of winds and the rotation of the Earth. The Earth rotates on its axis from west to east. The Coriolis effect also causes upwelling in the open ocean near the Equator. Trade winds at the Equator blow surface water both north and south, allowing upwelling of deeper water.
How does sunlight affect aquatic life in the Atlantic ocean?
The effects of sunlight on the aquatic life inhabiting your body of water: Water that is less dense will remain closer to the surface and move at a different pace than dense salt water. So, this density shift will alter the movement of currents that force cooler, deeper water south and warmer, surface water north.
What does sunlight do for the ocean?
The sun warms up parts of the oceans. Warm waters rise just like warm air rises. So, as the warmer ocean waters begin to rise in a particular area, the cooler ocean waters from a different area will move in to replace the warmer ocean waters, and this creates our ocean currents.
What is the importance of deep ocean circulation?
Importance of deep ocean circulation The deep ocean is a huge storehouse of heat, carbon, oxygen and nutrients. Deep ocean circulation regulates uptake, distribution and release of these elements. The low overturning rate stabilizes our global climate.
Why are deep ocean current important?
The dense water pushes deeper water out of its way and that water moves along the bottom of the ocean. This deep water mixes with less dense water as it flows. Surface currents move water into the space vacated at the surface where the dense water sank. Water also sinks into the deep ocean off of Antarctica.
What ocean currents carry warm water?
The Gulf Stream is one of the strong ocean currents that carries warm water from the tropics to the higher latitudes.
How does the ocean currents carry warm climate?
Ocean currents act as conveyer belts of warm and cold water, sending heat toward the polar regions and helping tropical areas cool off, thus influencing both weather and climate. When water molecules are heated, they exchange freely with the air in a process called evaporation.