What are the causes of deep ocean currents?
Deep ocean currents When ocean water freezes, forming sea ice, salt is left behind causing surrounding seawater to become saltier and denser. Dense-cold-salty water sinks to the ocean bottom. Surface water flows in to replace the sinking water, which in turn becomes cold and salty enough to sink.
What are the three causes of deep ocean currents?
Ocean currents can be caused by wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes or storms. Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the ocean.
Are deep ocean currents caused by convection?
More dense water masses will sink towards the ocean floor. Just like convection in air, when denser water sinks, its space is filled by less dense water moving in. This creates convection currents that move enormous amounts of water in the depths of the ocean.
Why do ocean currents occur in the deep ocean?
These currents move water masses through the deep ocean—taking nutrients, oxygen, and heat with them. Occasional events such as huge storms and underwater earthquakes can also trigger serious ocean currents, moving masses of water inland when they reach shallow water and coastlines.
What causes the flow of water in the ocean?
Ocean currents can be caused by wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes or storms. Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the ocean. Some are short-lived and small, while others are vast flows that take centuries to complete…
How does temperature and salinity affect ocean currents?
Temperature difference and salinity difference are the secondary forces. Differences in water density affect vertical mobility of ocean currents (vertical currents). Water with high salinity is denser than water with low salinity and in the same way cold water is denser than warm water.
How are gravity and Coriolis related to ocean currents?
Gravity tends to pull the water down to pile and create gradient variation. The Coriolis force intervenes and causes the water to move to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. These large accumulations of water and the flow around them are called Gyres.