thecirculationoftheoceans.docVIP

The Circulation of the Oceans Learning Objectives Know how ocean currents form Know the role of ocean circulation in the global climate system Understand why the movement of deep-ocean water is independent of the surface-ocean circulation Know how differences in water density play an important role in deep-ocean circulation Understand the Coriolis Effect on ocean circulation. Know how the circulation of the deep ocean is affected by water salinity Know what drives surface circulation Understand the effect of Ekman spiral/Ekman transport on water motion. Understand the nature of wind-induced vertical circulation: coastal upwelling and downwelling and equatorial upwelling. Know what is meant by thermohaline circulation. Know the general vertical structure of the ocean Review Questions What effects does the surface-wind pattern have on the circulation of the oceans? The movement of the wind over the ocean causes friction at the surface. As a result of this friction, the wind drags the ocean surface with it as it blows, thus setting up a pattern of surface-ocean wind-drift currents. Why do ocean currents not move in exactly the same direction as the wind? Because of the Coriolis Effect ocean currents do not move in exactly the same direction as the wind. The Coriolis Effect influences ocean currents just as it does winds, so the water is deflected to the right of the path of the wind in the Northern Hemisphere (and to the left of the wind’s path in the Southern Hemisphere). Observations show that this deflection tends to be approximately 20–25° from the wind direction. What is the Ekman spiral? Explain why Ekman transport occurs. Due to friction between wind and the water surface, some of the kinetic energy of the air is transferred to the top layer of the water. As that layer moves, it drags along the water just below it, which in turn drags along the water just below that, and so on. The water can be thought to move as many thin, coupled lay