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ARTIGO

Movimento do oceano
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O oceano possui um complexo sistema de circulação, movimentando água, calor , sal e

nutrientes em todo o mundo. As correntes de superfície nos 400m superiores são impulsionadas
principalmente pelo vento. Correntes mais profundas são impulsionadas por mudanças na
densidade da água . Ambos os tipos de correntes trabalham com a atmosfera para ajudar a moldar
o clima da Terra .

Direitos: Universidade de Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato 

Mapa de giros oceânicos

 Cada um dos 5 oceanos principais tem um padrão geral de correntes em grande escala,
chamadas giros, que circulam em torno deles.

Correntes circulantes
There is a huge surface current circling around each of the main ocean basins (North Atlantic, South
Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific and Indian Oceans). Different parts of Earth have winds that
tend to blow in the same direction most of the time, called prevailing winds. These prevailing winds,
combined with the expansion of warm water, cause the water to pile up into shallow ‘hills’. Gravity
pulls water down these hills, but the spin of the Earth causes the water to move around the hill –
clockwise in the northern hemisphere, anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.

The hills of water and the currents flowing around them are called gyres. Each main ocean basin
has one, with surface currents travelling at up to 4km an hour. These currents are important
because they carry heat away from the tropics, giving it back up to the atmosphere as they head
towards the poles. Because of where New Zealand sits on the west of the South Pacific gyre, it
receives warmth from waters bringing heat from the equator.

Surface currents
Winds blow on the ocean surface and push the water along. As part of the South Pacific gyre, some
currents are blown by prevailing winds down the east coast of Australia and across to New Zealand.
 Rights: The University of Waikato 

New Zealand surface currents

Prevailing winds blow warm currents from the South Pacific gyre across the Tasman Sea to New
Zealand.

Prevailing winds near Antarctica push surface water all the way around the continent in what is
called the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This is the strongest surface current, carrying more than
100 times the amount of all freshwater rivers added together. It also helps drive the currents around
New Zealand eastwards.

Deep currents
Dense water sinks below less dense water. This principle drives the Global Ocean Conveyor, a
system of deep currents that carry heat, salt and nutrients around the planet.
The Global Ocean Conveyor is a continuous cycle of currents that flow beneath the main surface
currents. In the North Atlantic, cold winds from the Arctic cool the surface water. The formation of
sea ice removes water but leaves the salt behind so the water becomes more salty. The cold, salty
water is denser than the water below, so it sinks and flows south like a vast, but very slow, river in
the ocean.

The cold, salty water eventually flows past Antarctica, then north into the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Here, the water gradually warms and mixes with other water to become less salty – it becomes less
dense, so rises to the surface. This upwelling is very slow – the water rises only a few metres a year.

Big ocean currents 

Professor Keith Hunter describes how the North Atlantic current, and others like it, flush out and
ventilate the world’s oceans. Because of the size of the ocean, and the slow speed of the
currents, water that sinks in the North Atlantic may not see the surface again for a thousand
years.

Near the surface, the water now joins other currents, heading south and west, eventually reaching
the Atlantic again. As it reaches the Arctic, it becomes cold and salty again, sinks and continues the
cycle.

The idea of conveyor belts and ocean currents suggests rushing water, but the Global Ocean
Conveyor is actually very, very slow – water that sinks in the North Atlantic may not reach the
surface again in the North Pacific for over a thousand years.
Look at the map to see where New Zealand sits close to the Global Ocean Conveyor. The cold
current 2–5 km below the surface heads northwards to the east of New Zealand, before upwelling in
the North Pacific.

Useful link

Watch an animated video  of the thermohaline circulation of the Global Ocean Conveyor. 

1. salt: In chemistry, a salt is produced when a strong acid and strong base react. Strong acid + strong base =
salt + water.

2. nutrient: A substance that provides nourishment for growth or metabolism.

3. density: How tightly a certain amount of matter (atoms or molecules) of a substance is compacted in a given
volume. Density is commonly measured in grams per millilitre (g/ml) or cubic centimetre (g/cm3).

4. atmosphere: 1. The layer of gas around the Earth.

2. (atm) A non-SI unit of pressure equivalent to 101.325
kPa.

5. climate: The weather conditions of an area averaged over a series of years, usually 30 or more.

6. ocean basin: The large depressions of the sea floor. Sediments can accumulate and build up here.

7. gravity: The force attracting something towards the centre of Earth (or other large mass, like a moon or
planet) – the reason that things fall to Earth.

8. gyres: The Earth’s rotation causes the Coriolis effect which deflects wind and water on both hemispheres
towards the equator. Gyres are vortexes or rotating flows that are a result of this deflection.

9. ocean basin: The large depressions of the sea floor. Sediments can accumulate and build up here.

10. heat energy (heat): Heat energy: the transfer of energy in materials from the random movement of the
particles in that material. The greater the random movement of particles the more heat energy the material
has. Temperature is a measure of the heat energy of a material.

Heat: the flow of energy from a warm object to a cooler object.

11. surface water: A body of water above the substrate or soil surface – for example, streams, rivers, lakes and
oceans.

12. continent: In geology, any of the main continuous expanses of continental crust on the Earth. Africa,
Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America are recognised as continents, but this
is based on historical and cultural attributes rather than geological attributes.

13. planet: In our Solar System, a planet is defined as an object that orbits the Sun, is big enough for its own
gravity to make it ball-shaped and keeps space around it clear of smaller objects.

14. metre: The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).

 Published 22 June 2010 Referencing Hub articles