Surface Currents Deep Currents Studying Ocean Currents

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Surface Currents
11 - 2
Chapter 11 Pages 11-3 to 11-25
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Surface Currents
Surface Currents
 Understanding what causes currents and where
they flow is fundamental to all marine sciences.
 It helps explain how heat, sediments, nutrients, and
organisms move within the seas.
Surface Currents
Chapter 11 Page 11-3
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Causes of Currents
 Deep and shallow areas of the sea have currents.
 Surface currents are generally from 0 to about 400 meters
(1,300 feet), although some go much deeper.
 Deep currents are those whose upper portions remain below
the ocean surface.
 Different phenomena drive surface and deep currents.
 Wind.
 If the wind blows long enough in one direction,
it will cause a water current to develop.
 The current continues to flow until internal friction,

Surface Currents
or friction with the sea floor, dissipates its energy.
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Causes of Currents
 Changes in sea level.
 Sea level is the average level of the sea’s surface
at its mean height between high and low tide.
 The ocean’s surface is never flat, ocean circulation
cause slopes to develop. The steeper the “mound”
of water, the larger and faster the current. The
force that drives this current is the pressure
gradient force.
Surface Currents
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Causes of Currents
 Variations in water density.
 When the density of seawater in one area is
greater than in a neighboring area, the weight
pressing down on deeper waters will be different,
too.
 The horizontal pressure gradient between the two
areas initiates a current that flows below the
surface as more dense water sinks below less
dense water.
Surface Currents
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Causes of Currents
 Persistent winds set surface currents in motion. The
trade winds and the westerlies account for most the
Earth’s wind energy.
 If you compare a map of average wind direction at
the Earth’s surface and a map of surface ocean
currents, you’ll notice similarities.
 You’ll also notice differences. For example, ocean
boundaries force currents to turn; they can’t just
keep going in a particular direction.

Surface Currents
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Causes of Currents
Earth’s Major
Surface Wind
Patterns in the
Atlantic Ocean
Surface Currents
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Gyres
 The combination of westerlies, trade winds, and
the Coriolis effect results in a circular flow in
each ocean basin. This flow is called a gyre.
Surface Currents
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Gyres
 There are five major gyres – one in each major
ocean basin:
 1. North Atlantic Gyre
 2. South Atlantic Gyre
 3. North Pacific Gyre
 4. South Pacific Gyre
 5. Indian Ocean Gyre
Surface Currents
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Gyres
 The flow of currents in all parts of the ocean is a
balance of various factors, including the pressure
gradient force, friction, and the Coriolis effect.
The North
Atlantic
Gyre
Surface Currents
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Ekman Transport
 You’ve already learned that currents have a tendency
to flow to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to
the left in the Southern Hemisphere because of the
Coriolis effect.
 This results in an interesting phenomenon called
Ekman transport.
 The Ekman transport is an interesting phenomenon
discovered in the 1890s by Fridtjof Nansen.
Surface Currents
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Ekman Transport
 The wind and the Coriolis effect influences water
well below the surface because water tends to flow
in what can be imagined as layers.
 Due to friction, the upper water currents push the
deep water below it. This deep layer pushes the
next layer below it. The process continues in
layers downward. Each water layer flows to the
right of the layer above causing a spiral motion.
 This spiraling effect of water layers pushing
slightly to the right from the one above (to

Surface Currents
the left in the Southern Hemisphere) is called the

Ekman spiral.
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Ekman Transport
 There is a net motion imparted to the water
column down to friction depth. This motion is
called the Ekman transport.
 The net effect, averaging of all the speeds and
directions of the Ekman spiral, is to move water
90° to the right of the wind in the Northern
Hemisphere, or to the left in the Southern
Hemisphere.
Surface Currents
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Ekman Transport
Ekman Spiral
Surface Currents
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Western Ocean Boundary Currents and Eastern
Ocean Boundary Currents
 Satellite images show that the ocean is really “hilly,”
not calm or flat.
 These images show that water piles up where
currents meet. Where currents diverge, “valleys”
form.
Surface Currents
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 There is a dynamic balance between the clockwise
deflection of the Coriolis effect (attempting to move
water to the right) and the pressure gradient created
by gravity (attempting to move the water to the left).
 The balance keeps
the gyre flowing
around the outside
of the ocean basin.
Surface Currents
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 Geostrophic currents are created by the Earth’s
rotation.
 This current results from the balance between the
pressure gradient force and the Coriolis effect.
 Characteristics of western and eastern ocean
boundary currents.
Surface Currents
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 Western boundary currents are found on the east
coasts of the continents and are stronger and faster
than eastern boundary currents due to western
intensification. Western boundary currents flow
through smaller areas than eastern boundary
currents.
Surface Currents
Formation of
eddies.
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 Trade winds blow along the equator pushing
water westward, causing it to “pile up” on the western
edge of ocean basins before it turns to the poles. The
Earth’s rotation tends to shift the higher surface level
in the center of the gyre westward. The higher
surface level is now west of center and forces the
current to “squeeze” through a narrower area.
 Total water volume balances out. Western ocean
boundary currents handle the same volume, but

Surface Currents
through smaller areas, so water must move more

rapidly.
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Countercurrents
 Ekman spirals are not the only way water flows in
directions that differ from the major ocean currents.
 Countercurrents are associated with equatorial
currents.
 As the name implies, a countercurrent runs in the
opposite direction of its adjacent current.
 The North Equatorial Current (NEC) and South
Equatorial Current (SEC) flow west until they
encounter continents.
Surface Currents
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Countercurrents
 An undercurrent flows beneath the adjacent current instead
of beside it.
 One significant undercurrent is the Pacific’s Cromwell
Current, named for Townsend Cromwell, who discovered it
in 1956.
 The Cromwell Current flows more than 14,000 kilometers
(8,700 miles) from New Guinea to Ecuador at a depth of
approximately 100 to 200 meters (300 to 600 feet). It flows
at an average speed of 5 kilometers (3 miles) per hour and
carries a volume about half that of the Gulf Stream.
Surface Currents
 Since the discovery of the Cromwell Current, undercurrents

have been found beneath most major currents.
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Surface Currents
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Countercurrents
Upwelling and Downwelling
 Upwelling is an upward vertical current that brings
deep water to the surface.
 Downwelling is a downward vertical current that
pushes surface water to the bottom.
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 Coastal upwellings occur when the wind blows
offshore or parallel to shore. In the Northern
Hemisphere this wind blowing southward will cause
an upwelling only on a west coast.
 The same wind on the east coast in the Northern
Hemisphere sends surface water toward shore
causing a downwelling.
Surface Currents
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Surface Currents
Coastal Upwelling
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 These currents have strong biological effects:
 Upwelling tends to bring deepwater nutrients up
into shallow water.
 Upwellings also relate to significant weather
patterns.
 Downwellings are important in carrying and cycling
nutrients to the deep ocean ecosystems and
sediments. They remove organic nutrients from
the surface.
Surface Currents
 Downwelling effect may be a reduction of

productivity of some surface species and an
increase in productivity of some bottom species.
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Surface Currents
Equatorial Upwelling
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Heat Transport and Climate
 Currents play a critical role by transporting heat from warm
areas to cool areas and affects climate by moderating
temperatures.
 Without currents moving heat, the world’s climates would
be more extreme.
 The Earth’s cold regions would be colder and the warm
regions would be warmer.
 Winters in northern Europe would be significantly colder
without the Gulf Stream bringing heat from the tropics.
 Southern California owes its mild climate to the moderating
effects of the Pacific Ocean. The southerly current along the
Surface Currents
California coast brings cool water from the north, keeping

southern California cooler than it would otherwise be in the

summer.
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El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
 El Niño tremendously affects world weather
patterns.
 This brings low pressure and high rainfall in the
Western Pacific.
 The opposite happens in the Eastern Pacific with
high pressure and less rainfall.
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 For reasons still not clear, every 3 to 8 years a
rearrangement of the high- and low-pressure systems
occur.
Surface Currents
Normal El Niño
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 High pressure builds in the Western Pacific and low
pressure in the Eastern Pacific. Trade winds weaken
or reverse and blow eastward – the southern
oscillation.
 This causes warm water of the west to migrate
east to the coast of South America. The loss of
upwelling deprives the water of nutrients. A
normally productive region declines with the
collapse of local fisheries and marine ecosystems.
 Over the eastern Pacific, humid air rises causing

Surface Currents
precipitation in normally arid regions. Flooding,

tornados, drought and other weather events can
lead to loss of life and property damage.
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The Pacific
Surface Currents
‘see-saw.”
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Effects of
ENSO.
Surface Currents
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Deep Currents
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Deep Currents
Deep Circulation and Water Masses
 You’ve learned that water density differences are one
of several causes of currents.
 In the deep ocean layers, water density variation, not
wind, is the primary cause of currents.
 Deep circulation is water motion caused by
mixing water of differing densities.
Deep Currents
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Deep Currents
Layers in the Sea
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 Deep circulation drives most of the vertical motion of
seawater and the ocean’s overall circulation.
 Deep circulation begins when water density increases
due to cooling and increased salinity.
 When water becomes denser than the water below it,
the denser water sinks. The cold dense water stays
on the bottom until mixing brings it back to the
surface. Tides and internal waves keep deep water
mixed.
Deep Currents
 The ocean stratifies into density layers.
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A
Temperature-
Salinity
Diagram
Deep Currents
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 Each water layer has specific temperature and
density characteristics.
 Recall that these water layer masses don’t easily mix
with water layers of differing density characteristics.
 The reason for these differences is that water mass
characteristics mainly develop at the surface.
Deep Currents
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Deep circulation and Water Masses
 Based on density stratification, there are five
generally recognized primary water masses:
 To about 200 meters (600 feet) - surface water
 To the main thermocline (depth varies with
latitude) - central water
 To about 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) - intermediate
water
 Below intermediate water, but not in contact with
the bottom, to about 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) -

Deep Currents
deep water
 In contact with the seafloor - bottom water
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Deep circulation and Water Masses
The Flow of
Atlantic
Deep Water
Deep Currents
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How Deep Water Masses Form
 Since water mass characteristics form at the surface, you may
wonder how the deeper layers get to the bottom.
 The answer is that the intermediate, deep, and bottom
water masses form primarily, but not entirely, at high
latitudes (around 70° North and South).
 Two deep masses, Antarctic Bottom Water and North
Atlantic Deep Water, make up most of the world’s deep
water. Pacific Deep Water and Mediterranean Deep Water
are also important.
 The densest ocean water forms in the Antarctic during the
winter.
 This Antarctic Bottom Water has a salinity of about 34.65‰
Deep Currents
and temperature of -0.5˚C (31˚F).

 At the surface, its specific density is 1.0279 grams per cubic
centimeter, or almost 3% higher than pure fresh water.
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 This high density is due to low temperature and high
salinity.
 As seawater freezes, it leaves salt behind. The
water that remains therefore becomes saltier,
explaining why Antarctic Bottom Water has such
high salinity.
Deep Currents
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 According to estimates, about 8 million cubic meters
of Antarctic Bottom Water form every second.
 This very dense water descends to the bottom,
spreads along the Antarctic deep-sea continental
shelf and creeps northward.
 Antarctic Bottom Water is thought to reach as far
as about 40˚ north latitude, taking somewhat less
than 1,000 years to get there.
 Antarctic Bottom Water is a primary source for

Deep Currents
both the deep and bottom water layers.
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 In the North Atlantic, high-salinity surface water cools
and sinks.
 Pacific water that forms in the Northern Hemisphere
is not as dense as deep bottom water, so it forms
Pacific Intermediate Water. Intermediate water also
develops in the North Atlantic, South Atlantic and
South Pacific at latitudes that are not quite as cold as
the Arctic or Antarctic.
 Mediterranean Deep Water forms due to

Deep Currents
evaporation rather than cooling.
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Water Masses
This illustration shows a
cross-section of the entire
Atlantic Ocean looking
eastward. Note how the
different water masses float
or sink, depending on their
relative density. Circulation

patterns are also indicated.
Deep Currents
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Deep Water Flow Patterns
 The enormous water quantities sinking at the poles
and in the Mediterranean are the source of the deep
water masses and circulation.
 Dense water descends into low areas and bottom
water upwell to compensate.
 The rising warm water enters wind-driven
currents and is carried to the poles. There it
cools, becomes more dense, and sinks again,
repeating the process.
Deep Currents
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Deep Water Flow Patterns
Deep Circulation.
An idealized model
of deep circulation
in the world ocean.
Deep Currents
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The Ocean Conveyor Belt
 When we look at both deep water and surface
currents, we can see how they influence the Earth’s
climate.
 The interconnected flow of currents that
redistribute heat is called the ocean conveyor
belt.
 Some oceanographers call the system the
Earth’s air conditioner.
Deep Currents
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Deep Currents
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 Deep water forms primarily at high latitudes.
 Water from the North Atlantic Deep Water flows south along
the Atlantic bottom, merging with Antarctic Bottom Water.
From there it flows eastward, with some flowing into the
Indian Ocean, but most flowing to the South Pacific and on
to the North Pacific.
 As the water mixes, it rises, warms, and eventually reaches
the surface. From there it is pushed by the trade winds
around the ocean.
 It carries heat from the equatorial regions north and

south toward the poles. There it cools and descends,
Deep Currents
starting the cycle all over.
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 This description is very generalized. If you were to
follow a single water molecule, in theory it would take
1,000 to 2,000 years to complete a cycle on the
ocean conveyor belt.
 As you may guess from previous discussions about
how currents move heat, the ocean conveyor belt is
important because it has a great effect on the world’s
climate.
Deep Currents
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 Scientists hypothesize that some of the coldest
intervals within ice ages have resulted from disruption
of the ocean conveyor belt.
 They hypothesize that dilution of the North Atlantic
Ocean with excess fresh water decreases the sinking
of North Atlantic Deep Water.
 If this thinking is correct, then global warming may,
ironically, lead to an ice age.
Deep Currents
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 The hypothesized cause is at global warming increases the
melting of glaciers and ice caps. This dilutes the seawater,
preventing the high-density, salty water from forming.
 Without this high-density water, there’s no downwelling to feed
North Atlantic deep water currents.
 This would disrupt the ocean conveyor belt by shutting down the
transport of relatively warm water to the far North Atlantic. Such
events would cause large parts of the Northern Hemisphere,
especially Europe, to become much colder.
 Scientists think events did occur during the last ice age, but the
possibility of their happening now is speculative.
Deep Currents
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Studying Ocean Currents
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Chapter 11 Page 11-33 to 11-37
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Three Distinct Approaches
 There are three main approaches to study currents:
 Lagrangian method, also called the float method.
 Studying the current by tracking a drifting
object. This involves floating something in the
current that records the information as it drifts.
 Eulerian method, also called the flow method.
 Studying the current by staying in one place
and measuring changes to the velocity of the

water as it flows past. This method uses fixed
instruments that meter/sample the current as it

passes.
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Three Distinct Approaches
 Use of altimeter satellites to measure the highs
and lows of the sea surface.
 Because geostrophic currents flow around
highs and lows, satellite altimeters can produce
ocean current maps everywhere on the ocean
surface.
 This has revolutionized our knowledge of
currents and tides.

 All oceanographers today use satellites during
their studies.
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Instrumentation and Methods
 There are five examples of
instruments or methods
that scientists apply for studying
currents.
 For Lagrangian study methods
researchers use a drogue. The
advantage over a simple surface
float is that the “holey sock” ensures

that the current and not the wind

determine where it drifts.
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 Scientists are now using floats that transmit data to
satellites.
 For example, the Argo float drifts at depths typically
ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 meters (5,000 to 6,500
feet) before periodically rising to the surface to
transmit to a satellite a temperature and salinity
profile of the water it rose through. Then, it sinks back
to its drifting depth.

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Argo “Floater”
Collecting information on
subsurface currents.
Argo floats periodically
adjusts its buoyancy to rise
to the surface. On the
surface, it transmits its
position to a
communication satellite.
Once the uplink is
complete, Argo returns to

deep water to track current

flow for ten days.
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 For Eulerian study methods researchers use:
 Various types of flow meters. These devices
use impellors and vanes to measure and record
current speed and direction. The information
gathered is either transmitted immediately or
stored for retrieval later.
 A more sophisticated device is the Doppler
Acoustic Current Meter. This instrument

determines current direction and speed.
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Researchers Doppler Acoustic

Using A Flow Current Meter
Meter
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 Along with ocean-based instruments,
oceanographers use altimeter satellites to measure
surface geostrophic currents.
 The Jason II satellite, launched in 2008,
measures sea level height around the world.
 The satellite image is updated every two weeks.
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Altimeter Satellite
Jason II Satellite
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Surface Currents Deep Currents Studying Ocean Currents

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Choose to view chapter section with a click on the section heading.

 The current continues to flow until internal friction,

or friction with the sea floor, dissipates its energy.

keep going in a particular direction.

slightly to the right from the one above (to

the left in the Southern Hemisphere) is called the

boundary currents handle the same volume, but

through smaller areas, so water must move more

 Since the discovery of the Cromwell Current, undercurrents

 Downwelling effect may be a reduction of

California coast brings cool water from the north, keeping

southern California cooler than it would otherwise be in the

 Over the eastern Pacific, humid air rises causing

precipitation in normally arid regions. Flooding,

Layers in the Sea

 The ocean stratifies into density layers.

the bottom, to about 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) -

and temperature of -0.5˚C (31˚F).

 Antarctic Bottom Water is a primary source for

both the deep and bottom water layers.

 Mediterranean Deep Water forms due to

evaporation rather than cooling.

relative density. Circulation

 It carries heat from the equatorial regions north and

starting the cycle all over.

and measuring changes to the velocity of the

instruments that meter/sample the current as it

currents and tides.

float is that the “holey sock” ensures

that the current and not the wind

to its drifting depth.

complete, Argo returns to

deep water to track current

Acoustic Current Meter. This instrument

determines current direction and speed.

Researchers Doppler Acoustic

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