Ocean currents - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Aug 1, 2011 · Deep ocean currents. Differences in water density, resulting from the variability of water temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline), also cause ocean currents. This process is known as thermohaline circulation. In cold regions, such as the North Atlantic Ocean, ocean water loses heat to the atmosphere and becomes cold and dense.
Ocean Circulations - National Oceanic and Atmospheric …
Mar 28, 2023 · Keeping Current. While ocean currents are shallow-level circulations, there is global circulation which extends to the depths of the sea called the Great Ocean Conveyor. Also called the thermohaline circulation, it is driven by differences in the density of the sea water which is controlled by temperature (thermal) and salinity (haline).
JetStream Max: Major Ocean Currents - National Oceanic and …
Apr 14, 2023 · Like the name implies, these currents run counter to the prevailing wind direction but usually only in regions where the winds are weak. These currents are located along the equator and are a result of the water returning east after it was pushed west by the equatorial currents. The reason for their motion "counter" (opposite) to the wind flow ...
What are Ocean Currents? | Every Full Moon | Ocean Today
Coming into view now is the Kuroshio Current, located off the east coast of Japan. This is the ocean's largest current. It can travel between 25-75 miles a day and is equal in volume to 6,000 large rivers. Surface ocean currents on the open ocean are fantastically complicated and beautiful, driven by a complex global wind system.
Ocean floor features - National Oceanic and Atmospheric …
May 1, 2020 · Convection currents in the molten mantle cause the plates to slowly move about the Earth a few centimeters each year. Many ocean floor features are a result of the interactions that occur at the edges of these plates. The shifting plates may collide (converge), move away (diverge) or slide past (transform) each other. As plates converge, one ...
Ocean Garbage Patches - National Oceanic and Atmospheric …
The most famous example of an ocean gyre’s tendency to "take out our trash" is the Great Pacific Garbage patch located within the North Pacific Gyre (shown here). While this is the most infamous garbage patch, it is not the only one in the ocean. Researchers have discovered two more areas where a “soup” of concentrated marine debris ...
El Niño and La Niña - National Oceanic and Atmospheric …
Jul 1, 2015 · Even though El Niño occurs in the Pacific Ocean, it often reduces the number of hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Ocean. Conversely, La Niña events tend to be related to an increase in the number of Atlantic hurricanes. Food production is impacted by ENSO. Changes in ocean temperatures and currents that happen during El Niño impact marine ...
NOAA predicts a near-normal 2023 Atlantic hurricane season
May 25, 2023 · Those conditions include the potential for an above-normal west African monsoon, which produces African easterly waves and seeds some of the stronger and longer-lived Atlantic storms, and warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea which creates more energy to fuel storm development.
Ocean pollution and marine debris | National Oceanic and …
Apr 1, 2020 · These patches are formed by large, rotating ocean currents called gyres that pull debris into one location, often to the gyre’s center. There are five gyres in the ocean: one in the Indian Ocean, two in the Atlantic Ocean, and two in the Pacific Ocean. Garbage patches of varying sizes are located in each gyre.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): Sargasso Sea - National Oceanic …
The Sargasso Sea is located entirely within the Atlantic Ocean and characterized by the presence of holopelagic Sargassum. Holopelagic Sargassum is free-floating algae that remains in the open ocean for its entire life cycle. No other marine region, anywhere in the world, is known to support a community of holopelagic algae.