ipl-logo

What Are The Four Factors That Influence Ocean Currents

725 Words3 Pages

 Describe four factors that influence ocean currents. o Wind: it is the single strongest factor in the creation of surface currents. Strong winds moving across an expanse of water move the surface of the water. The strong winds are not random breezes. o Water Density: This is caused by the amount of salt in a body of water and its temperature. Water with higher salinity, or colder water, is more dense and likely to sink. Sinking water pushes the water below it up. The combination of sinking and rising in the same area causes a current. o Ocean Bottom Topography: Water contours to the topography of the ocean floor or bed. If the ocean bottom “drops out,” like in a valley or trench, the moving water will move downward. If there is a ride in …show more content…

Although your motion relative to the sea floor is ONLY poleward, you have a certain eastward speed inherited from the earth’s rotation. As you move poleward, you keep this eastward speed, because you are not rigidly attached to the sea floor. But you are moving into a region where the eastward speed of the sea floor itself is SMALLER, because the latitude curlces are smaller. So your eastward speed is now greater than that of the sea floor, and you start drifting towards the east, relative to the sea floor. So you started moving poleward, but you are now moving both poleward and eastward. If you were in the N hemisphere going north, you are now going NE, and If you were in the S hemisphere, you are now going SE. Similarly, if you start off by moving equatorward , your eastward speed soon becomes to SMALL for your new latitude, so you start drifting west. If you were in N hemisphere going south, you are now going SW If you were in S hemisphere going north, you are now going NW The arguments about how eastward motion turns into NE or SE motion or how westward motion turns into NW or SW motion are a bit harder to grasp, but the two arguments above give you a basic understanding of why ocean current motion in the N hemisphere is clockwise and in the S hemisphere is

Show More
Related

Nt1310 Unit 1 Assignment

624 Words | 3 Pages

There is one big reason rocks are not found on the sea floor that could be attributed to the dynamics of nature. One of them is because the sea floor is constantly changing thanks to seafloor spreading. So, the seafloor now is not the same as it was years ago. Seafloor spreading happens because of the earth’s plates constantly moving meaning the rocks on the seafloor will soon be shifted inward toward the mantel or shifted to another side. 2.

Read More

Ap Human Geography Chapter 8 Review

443 Words | 2 Pages

Chapter 8 Review 3. The horizontal wind determines the spacing between the isobars on a surface weather map each day. For example, if the pressure gradient is strong for that specific day, the isobars would be close together resulting in high winds. If there was a low pressure gradient, the isobars would be more spread out. Thus meaning, that the horizontal winds blow from locations that have higher pressures to lower pressures.

Read More

Conodoguinet Creek Research Paper

1063 Words | 5 Pages

Dissolved oxygen levels can be lower due to heat, or high

Read More

Factors Affecting Nashville's Physiographic Regions

767 Words | 4 Pages

The cooled air over the land moves in to take the place of the rising warm air over the water. That is how bodies of water can affect the

Read More

Explain Why Did The Alaskan Way Viaduct Collapse

464 Words | 2 Pages

When atoms are cold they sink because they are more compacted and don’t move around as much. Sink or Float was a lab that showed about temperature and density changes. With the cold water we saw it sink and just stay at the bottom of the container without moving. When the hot water was added it made it rise to the top of the container and spread. That showed us that the bottom layers would be hotter and the top layers would be colder.

Read More

Analysis Of The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

433 Words | 2 Pages

Sinking to the bottom of the ocean can signify that, that person is giving up and that they are not willing to fight anymore. Jeannette Walls was raised by parents that believed that their children should learn from their own mistakes. The Walls children were put in danger by their parents various times, just so they could understand that they should not depend on anybody but themselves; the Walls children were taught that living life holding on to the edge could prevent them to take risky chances and lose the chance of having success. In the book “The Glass Castle” written by Jeannette Walls, Rex Walls describes to Jeannette that “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim. ”(Walls 66).

Read More

What Was The Most Important Consequence Of The Printing Press Dbq Essay

477 Words | 2 Pages

Navigation was a big part of sailing across the big ocean to find something newer as referenced in document D. There were many ways to navigate in the ocean before gps’s were made, there were the stars, compasses , quadrant and maps, these weren’t all accurate but they had a sense in where they were looking for and going. Columbus used a quadrant on his

Read More

Bering Strait Land Bridge Theory

547 Words | 3 Pages

This is the Pacific Ocean theory. Evidence in Australia and Japan show boats were in use as far back as 25,000 to 40,000 years ago. Sea routes would have provided plenty of food and easier and faster movement than land

Read More

Transcontinental Railroad Essay Outline

1023 Words | 5 Pages

In ocean travel, each ship would have to travel from continent to

Read More

Ocean's 11 Analysis

750 Words | 3 Pages

Social differences can play a huge role in Hollywood with the development of films that are being produced. These differences was also spark the production of a film remake. Ocean 's 11 (1960) and Ocean 's Eleven (2001) is an example that falls into this category. Both films share an underlying social problem that was shown to be a reoccurring issue that can be related to the time it is made and reproduced. Diving into Ocean 's 11 (1960), we are introduced to Danny Ocean.

Read More

Essay On The Effect Of Temperature On Osmosis

1159 Words | 5 Pages

When temperature is increased, the amount of obtainable energy increases; meaning that particles will move at faster pace at a higher temperature. Thus rate at which molecules diffuse will progressively speed up as the temperature increases. However if temperature of solution is decreased the rate of osmosis will decrease and rate at which molecules diffuse will be significantly less than that of higher

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Coastal Management

2274 Words | 10 Pages

Assignment: Coastal management • Explain what is coastal management • Discuss the types of coastal management and when they are used • The pros and cons of the types of coastal management Word limit is 2500 including references. Why is it important to defend the coast? Coastlines today, tend to be very heavily populated areas that are of high economic value due to tourism as well as key access point to ocean fisheries resources and sea transport routes. However, coastlines are particularly prone to flooding, whereby these fragile ecosystems take a long time to recover if they are degraded or destroyed.

Read More

And Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Ocean'

737 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever swam in the ocean? Ever fought against the waves? Have you ever felt its intensity?? Oceans can be quite treacherous and rigid, but once you sink down beneath the water, all is calm and peaceful. In “The Ocean” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he paints an image of this by illustrating the waters and the men at sea.

Read More

The Flat Earth Theory

1169 Words | 5 Pages

To illustrate, as a ship travels further and further off into the distance humans perceive it as being smaller and smaller. That being the case, people view the ship as getting “...closer and closer to the surface of the sea” (“Sinking Ship Effect” 1). Subsequently, once the ship gets far enough away, it becomes impossible to distinguish the surface of the sea from the ship. The point where the ship and ocean unite is known as the vanishing point. In summary, the Sinking Ship Effect outlines how the limits of human perception prevent humans from being able to see to the edge of the vast flat disk (“Sinking Ship Effect”

Read More

Informative Essay: Natural Causes Of Global Warming

1008 Words | 5 Pages

Now another natural cause of global warming is the rising of the seas. The biggest reason for sea level rising is that global warming is causing the air to be warmer and that 's causing glaciers and ice-caps to melt. Sea level rise would affect about 11 out of the 15 biggest cities in the world. The reason this is happening because gases are being released into the atmosphere which is causing the temperatures to rise, which causes the seas to rise. Sea level rising means more money that we have to spend for people living on the coastlines because coastal populations are growing and people are crowding into coastal areas and that area could be underwater in a few years if sea levels keep rising how they have been.

Read More

More about What Are The Four Factors That Influence Ocean Currents

Related Topics

Open Document