GYRES AND EDDIES

Presented by,

Suhani R Nair

FEN-2020-09-009
GYRES
• Large circular loop of moving water.

• THOUSANDS OF MILES IN DIAMETER AND RIMMED BY

LARGE,PERMANENT OCEAN CURRENTS.

• The MOVEMENT OF THE WORLD’S MAJOR OCEAN GYRES HELPS DRIVE

THE “OCEAN CONVEYOR BELT".

• The direction of a gyre's rotation is determined by the prevailing winds in the

region,rotating clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the
Southern Hemisphere.
HOW A GYRE FORMS
Three forces cause the circulation of a gyre:

1. Global wind patterns

2. Earth’s rotation
3. Earth’s landmasses

• Wind drags on the ocean surface, causing water to move in the direction the wind is blowing.

• The Earth’s rotation deflects, or changes the direction of, these wind-driven currents. This
deflection is a part of the Coriolis effect.

• Earth’s continents and other landmasses (such as islands) also influence the creation of ocean
gyres.
MAJOR GYRES
There are five major gyres found in the ocean are:

North Pacific Gyre

• It is one of the major Gyres found in the ocean and it is also known as the North Pacific Subtropical
Gyre which is found in the North Pacific Ocean.

• It covers most of the area of this ocean and is also considered the largest ecosystem.

• It is found in between 0° and 50° latitude.

• It consists of four ocean currents and moves in a clockwise direction.

• The four ocean currents are North Pacific current, California current, North Equatorial current as
well as Kuroshio current in north, east, south and west respectively.
South Pacific Gyre :

• One of the major Gyres present in the ocean and this one is present in the South Pacific.

• Also known to be as South Pacific Subtropical Gyre and it moves in the anti-clockwise
direction because of Coriolis force and trade winds.

• It is composed of the equator in the north, Australia in the west, Antarctic Circumpolar
Current in the south, as well as South America, is seen in the east.

North Atlantic Gyre

• This Gyre is also known as the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre and can be seen in the North
Atlantic Ocean.

• It consists of warm as well as cold ocean currents and is surrounded by North America,
Africa, Europe and Iceland.

• The names of the currents it includes are Gulf stream, North Atlantic current, Canary Current
and North Equatorial current in west, north, east and south respectively.
South Atlantic Gyre :

• It is also known as the South Atlantic Subtropical Gyre present in the South Atlantic Ocean.

• It also consists of cold as well as warm currents.

• Antarctic Circumpolar current can be found in its south which moves from West to East.

• On the western side, Brazil and in south the South Equatorial current as well as Benguela current
in the east.

Indian Ocean Gyre :

• It is located in the Indian Ocean which consists of a larger number of ocean currents.

• Generally, in winters it moves in the anti-clockwise direction but it is reversed because of the
influence of South Asian Monsoon winds.
GARBAGE PATCHES
Ocean gyres circle large areas of stationary, calm water. The circular motion of the gyre draws in the
debris, mostly small particles of plastic. Eventually, the debris makes its way to the center of the gyre,
where it becomes trapped.These regions are called garbage patches.
LIFE IN GYRES
Gyres calm centers have traditionally been regarded as nutrient-poor, because they have few
concentrations of the organic chemicals that support producers, such as algae and plankton, in the ocean
food web.
Researchers have recently discovered an expansion of nutrient poor regions in ocean gyres. They
have correlated this expansion with increases in sea-surface temperatures—warm waters generally have
far fewer nutrients than cold water.
EDDIES
• An eddy is a circular current of water.

• Eddies are relatively small, contained pockets of moving water that break off from the main
body of a current and travel independently of their parent.

• They can form in almost any part of a current, but are especially pronounced in western
boundary currents.

• The swirling water of an eddy can be more than 100 km (60 miles) in diameter.

• Those with diameter ranging from 50 to 200 miles or more, they are officially called
“mesoscale eddies”.

• Depending on which side they form, these eddies contain either relatively warm or cold water
compared to their surroundings
CYCLONIC AND ANTICYCLONIC
EDDIES
Eddies which rotate counterclockwise - CYCLONIC EDDIES

Eddies which rotate clockwise are ANTICYCLONIC EDDIES

Northern Hemisphere.

• Cold water eddies rotate counterclockwise.

• Warm water eddies rotate clockwise

Southern Hemisphere

• cold water eddies rotate clockwise

• warm water eddies rotate counterclockwise.

DIVERGENCE AND CONVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH
EDDIES
Winds from the overlying atmospheric circulation patterns can produce surface currents that
sometimes cause convergence or divergence of upper ocean waters over surface areas.

• Under divergent conditions, cool, nutrient-rich waters can upwell from deeper waters to act as
a seed for the formation of a cold-core eddy.

• Warmer, nutrient-poor waters may converge, be downwelled, and a warm-core eddy can form .
ROLE OF EDDIES
• On the largest scale, they help move heat or energy.

• They are part of the ocean-atmosphere system that transports excess heat from the tropics
toward the energy deficient poles.

• With varying concentrations of saltiness they help transport and balance salinity.

• Nutrients are transported with the movement of eddies.

• There are also smaller eddies in the ocean. These measure 50 miles across or less but can still
last for weeks or months.

• Recently discovered are even smaller eddies, or “submesoscale vortices”; they measure less
than a mile across.
THANK YOU..