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CSU NR 150 - Ocean Circulation

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NR 150 1st Edition Lecture 10Outline of Last Lecture I. Surface currents are driven by windOutline of Current Lecture II. Mass flow of ocean water is driven by wind and gravityIII. Surface currents flow around the periphery of ocean basinsIV. Seawater flows in six great surface circuitsV. Gyres with and without the Coriolis effectVI. Westward intensificationVII. The center of the gyresCurrent LectureI. Mass flow of ocean water is driven by wind and gravitya. Surface currents: wind-driven movements of water at or near the ocean’s surfacei. About 10% of the ocean water is involved in surface currentsii. Water is flowing horizontally in the uppermost 400 metersiii. Occurs above the pycnoclineb. Thermohaline currents: the slow, deep currents that affect the vast bulk of seawater beneath the pycnoclinec. Surface and thermohaline circulation affecti. Temperatureii. Climate1. Locations with the same latitude often experience different climates as a result of surface ocean currentsiii. Biological productivityd. Gyres: circuit of mid-latitude currents around the periphery of an ocean basinThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.i. Gyres in balance between the pressure gradient and the Coriolis effect are called geostrophic gyres1. Currents in these gyres are called geostrophic currentsII. Surface currents flow around the periphery of ocean basinsa. The Coriolis effect shifts currents to the right of the wind direction in the Northern Hemisphereb. The Ekman spiral and Ekman transport explain the net movement of water in surface currentsi. Ekman spiral: the top most layer of water is driven about 45° to the right/ left (in the Northern/Southern hemispheres) of the wind direction1. The water a layer deeper moves at an angle to the right/left of theoverlaying water respectivelya. This occurs with each layer deeper in the water, and each layer moves slower than the one above due to frictionii. Ekman transport: the net motion of water down to about 100 meters, after summing the effects of the Ekman spiral1. 90° to the right of the wind direction in the Northern Hemisphere,90° to the left in the Southern HemisphereIII. Seawater flows in six great surface circuitsa. Geostrophic gyres are largely independent of one another in each hemispherei. North Atlantic gyre, South Atlantic gyre, North Pacific gyre, South Pacific gyre, Indian Ocean gyreii. West Wind Drift/Antarctic Circumpolar Current: not technically a gyre; flows endlessly eastward around Antarctica driven by strong westerly winds and never deflected by a continentb. There are 2 great currents in the Northern Hemisphere and 4 in the Southern Hemispherei. Four currents that make up a gyre: two boundary currents (Eastern and Western), two transverse currentsIV. Gyres with and without the Coriolis effecta. Without the Coriolis effect, the ocean gyres would be perfect concentric shapesb. With the Coriolis effect, the shape is deflected and stretched in the direction of the windsV. Westward intensificationa. Western boundary currents are narrow, deep, warm and strong currents with a steep slopei. Faster and occasionally form eddiesii. The Gulf Stream: largest of the western boundary currents, flow is 300x the flow of the Amazonb. Eastern boundary currents are broad, shallow, cold and weak currents with a gentle slopei. Transports cold water towards the equator, have poorly defined boundariesii. Usually don’t form eddiesVI. The center of the gyresa. Garbage patches form from debris consisting of small plastic particles suspended at or below the surface, making it impossible to detect by aircraft or satelliteb. The estimated size of the North Pacific garbage patch is 1-2 times the size of the United Statesc. The garbage is 20% from ships and 80% from


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