Currents Tutorial
Coastal currents are affected by local winds. Surface ocean currents, which occur on the open ocean, are driven by a complex global wind system. To understand the effects of winds on ocean currents, one first needs to understand the Coriolis force and the Ekman spiral.
If the Earth did not rotate and remained stationary, the atmosphere would circulate between the poles (high pressure areas) and the equator (a low pressure area) in a simple back-and-forth pattern. But because the Earth rotates, circulating air is deflected. Instead of circulating in a straight pattern, the air deflects toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere, resulting in curved paths. This deflection is called the Coriolis effect. It is named after the French mathematician Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis (1792-1843), who studied the transfer of energy in rotating systems like waterwheels. (Ross, 1995).
Currents Lessons
- Welcome
- Tidal Currents 1
- Tidal Currents 2
- Waves
- Longshore Currents
- Rip Currents
- Upwelling
- The Coriolis Effect
- Surface Ocean Currents
- Boundary Currents
- The Ekman Spiral
- Thermohaline Circulation
- The Global Conveyor Belt
- Effects of Climate Change
- Age of Exploration
- What is a "knot"?
- Shallow Water Drifter
- Deep Ocean Drifter
- Current Profiler
- Shore-based Current Meters
- How Currents Affect Our Lives?
- References
- Roadmap to Resources
- Subject Review
Coastal Currents
Surface Ocean Currents
The Global Conveyor Belt
How Are Currents Measured?
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