Currents on the world map with names. World Ocean. Ocean currents. Comparative current contour map
Surface currents are of greatest geographical importance. They have a significant impact on the climate, and sailors must take them into account.
Previously, it was believed that the direction of surface currents coincides with the direction of the winds. In small bodies of water this is true to some extent. But in the open ocean, where it is deep enough, the rotation of the Earth already affects it, deflecting the current from the direction of the winds to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
It is the dense waters formed as a result of this process that create deep ocean paintings. Water formed in the Weddell and Ross seas spreads east and north around Antarctica under the influence of the Coriolis force. As with surface water, most of the flow is concentrated on the western sides of the ocean basins, but in this case the movement is to the north. Similar effects are found in both the South Indian and South Pacific oceans, and bottom waters are forced to follow the bottom topography.
Water masses formed in the Northern Hemisphere also flow south. Deep water from the Greenland and Norwegian seas fills these basins until they spill over the ridges between Greenland, Iceland and Scotland. This water, known as the North Atlantic Deep Water, continues south until it joins the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, from where it supplies most salts into the deep waters of the southern hemisphere. The Labrador Sea is also a source of dense water. Since, however, winter conditions here are not as severe as in the Greenland and Norwegian Seas, the brine produced is less dense and does not sink as deep.
Approaching the shore or shallow water from the open ocean, the current splits and changes direction. In cases where the shore is straight and the current is directed perpendicular to it, a bifurcation of the current into two identical jets is observed. One stream goes to the right along the shore, and the other to the left. Approaching the shore at an angle, the current bifurcates into two jets of different sizes. A large jet goes along the shore towards an obtuse angle, and a smaller one - towards an acute angle. If the shore forms a ledge, then the current approaching it is cut into two jets passing to the right and left of the ledge.
All these water masses help transport oxygen from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. Sinking water is very cold and contains high concentrations of dissolved oxygen obtained at the surface because cold water can contain more oxygen than warm water. As they flow, they mix with "older" water that has been away from the surface for a longer time, ensuring that the bottom ocean waters are supplied with oxygen. Additional oxygen is supplied in the southern hemisphere by the Antarctic intermediate water formed in the band from 50° to 55° S latitude.
The main surface currents arise from the trade winds that blow over the oceans all year round.
Let's consider the currents Pacific Ocean. The current caused by the northeast trade wind forms an angle of 45° with it, deviating to the right from the prevailing wind direction. Therefore, the current is directed from east to west along the equator, slightly north of it (arrow 1). This current owes its existence to the northeast trade wind. It is called the Northern Trade Wind.
Water does not have to be cooled to change its density. Large changes in density can also be obtained in areas where evaporation is more important than precipitation. Examples of regions where this occurs are the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Although the waters here are warm, density can increase so that the water leaving these enclosed pools sinks as it mixes with its surroundings. Mediterranean water is traced across the North Atlantic due to its high salinity, while Red Sea water can follow south along east coast Africa to the Agulhas Current.
The southeast trade wind creates the South Trade Wind Current (arrow 2), deviating from the trade wind direction to the left by 45°. It is directed in the same way as the previous one, from east to west, but passes south of the equator.
Both trade wind (equatorial) currents, running parallel to the equator, reach the eastern coast of the continents and bifurcate, with one jet moving along the coast to the north, and the other to the south. In the drawing, these branches are indicated by arrows 3,4,5 and 6. The southern branch of the Northern Trade Wind Current (arrow 4) and the northern branch of the Southern Trade Wind Current (arrow 6) go towards each other. Having met, they merge and, through the zone of equatorial calm, move from west to east (arrow 7), forming an equatorial countercurrent. It is very well expressed in the Pacific Ocean.
An idealized version of current patterns across the entire ocean is shown in the figure. This clearly shows that although surface and deep current patterns may appear separate, they are in fact closely related. Deep water flooding in the northern part North Atlantic is replaced on the surface by warmer water from the equator. Likewise, dense water originating from Antarctica is replaced by upwellings of deep water derived originally from the North Atlantic. Thus, there is a global thermohaline circulation that converts surface water at high latitudes into deep water that moves away from its source, mixing with the water into which it flows.
The right branch of the Northern Trade Wind Current (arrow 3) goes north along the eastern coast of the mainland. Under influence. Due to the rotation of the Earth, it gradually deviates to the right, pushes away from the coast and, around the 40th parallel, goes east into the open ocean (arrow 5). Here it is picked up by southwestern winds and forced to move from west to east. Having reached the western coast of the continent, the current bifurcates, its right branch (arrow 9) goes to the south, deviated by the rotation of the Earth to the right, and therefore is pushed away from the coast. Having reached the Northern Trade Wind (equatorial) Current, this branch merges with it and forms a closed northern equatorial ring of currents (arrows 1, 3, 8 and 9).
This flow can be traced from the northern North Atlantic, through the South Atlantic to the Circumpolar Current, and then back through the upwelling in the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the surface layers. Water flows from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean through the Indonesian passages, and the pattern ends with warm water in the Agulhas Theater south of Africa, which enters the South Atlantic and moves north, crossing the equator again and joining the Gulf Stream. Although this path can be traced in Figure 2, it is clearly much more complex than indicated here.
The currents do not flow continuously, as there are many small gyres where the water gets "stuck" in its journey and is forced to recirculate one or more times before it can continue moving around the world. This diagram shows the generalized interbasin flow for the indicated oceans and their horizontal connections in the Southern Ocean and Indonesian passages.
The left branch of the current (arrow 10) goes to the north, is deflected by the rotation of the Earth to the right, is pressed against the western coast of the continent and therefore follows the bends of the coast and the features of the bottom topography. This current carries water of high salinity from the subtropics. Having encountered colder, but less salty polar water, it goes deeper.
Likewise, there are significant differences in the trajectories traced by different currents. Although the general path of a particular current is the same from year to year, the actual path it takes can vary greatly on the scale of a few weeks. All western boundary currents show significant movement relative to their mean position. Why this occurs is not really known, but they may be caused by upstream wind stress changes or eddy shedding.
Open university course team. Ocean circulation. Picard. Introductory dynamic oceanography. Stuart Godfrey. Regional oceanography: an introduction. Ten years later, he modeled deep circulation. He proposed that cold, dense water sinks only in limited areas of the North Atlantic and the Weddell Sea, but that the rising water that replaces it does so throughout the tropics and subtropics. This theory requires strong deep currents towards the equator along the western boundaries of ocean basins, rather than away from it as at the surface.
Northeast winds blowing from the polar region also create a current (arrow 11). It, carrying very cold water, goes south along the eastern shores of the Eurasian continent.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the left branch of the Southern Trade Wind Current (arrow 5) heads south along the eastern coast of Australia, is deflected to the left by the Earth's rotation and is pushed away from the coast. Around the 40th parallel (the same as in the Northern Hemisphere), it goes out into the open ocean, is picked up by northwest winds and is directed from west to east (arrow 12). U western shores America's currents are splitting into two. The left branch goes along the coast of the mainland to the north. Deflected by the rotation of the Earth to the left, this current (arrow 13) is pushed away from the coast and closes with the Southern Trade Wind Current, forming a southern equatorial ring of currents, similar to the northern one (arrows 2, 5, 12 and 13). The right branch (arrow 14), past the southern tip of America, goes east into the neighboring ocean. Obviously, a similar current should also enter from the west from the neighboring ocean through the strait (arrow 15).
Recent observations have shown that these currents may exist east of the middle ocean ridges, as well as along the western boundaries of each ocean. These are waves, tides and ocean currents. Having covered the basics, we will see in this post a super fast way to learn the details of ocean currents.
You may have heard so many names such as Curacio Tok, Oyashio Tok, Peruvian Tok, etc. Is the Kurashio a cold current or a warm current? It's not easy to remember all the names, locations and types of ocean currents - without the right guidance. So what is the survey-based approach?
Consider physical card a world where currents are shown. It will not be difficult for you to understand why the Pacific and Atlantic oceans each have two equatorial rings of currents - north and south of the equator, while the Indian ocean has only one in the Southern Hemisphere. North of the equator, the ocean space is not enough to form a ring of currents.
How to find out the names of ocean currents faster?
We showed the main modern systems in three oceans - the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean - from left to right. Continents are represented in "Green", warm ocean currents in "Red" and cold ocean currents in "Blue".
Points to remember
Now, these are the only quick notes you need to learn about the ocean current flow model. With the above points you can find the nature of almost all currents. Let's analyze the main ocean currents.
The map shows that in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the outlines of the western coasts and the numerous islands located near them create a more complex picture of currents than shown in the diagram.
Let's move on to the pattern of currents in the Atlantic Ocean. Here the Southern Trade Wind (Equatorial) Current (arrow 2) is directed from the southern part of the Gulf of Guinea to the west between the equator and the 15th parallel. Approaching the protrusion of the South American continent, it is cut into two streams. The left branch of the current, shown by arrow 5 in the diagram, goes south along the coast of Brazil. This current is called the Brazilian current. The right jet (arrow 6) continues to move west-northwest along north coast South America, in particular near Guiana. This is the Guiana Current. It enters the Caribbean Sea through the straits between the Lesser Antilles.
Gyrs of ocean currents in each of the major oceans
This is a significant current of the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, which flows from east to west. In both oceans it is separated from the equatorial circulation by the equatorial countercurrent, which flows to the east. It is a significant ocean current in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans that flows from east to west. In the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, it extends along the equator approximately 5 0 to the north. It is an eastward current flow found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. It lies between the north equatorial and south equatorial currents at approximately 3-10 north latitudes. This countercurrent current replaces water removed from the eastern side of the ocean by the north equatorial and south equatorial bodies. In the Indian Ocean, the current trend is toward a reverse hemisphere seasonally due to the influence of the Asian monsoon reversal. The current is circumpolar due to the lack of any continental water connecting to Antarctica, and thus retains warm ocean waters away from Antarctica. This is the region where cold Antarctic waters meet Sub-Antarctic waters, creating an upwelling zone.
- They flow between 10 0 north and 20 north latitudes.
- Despite its name, the North Equatorial Current is not associated with the equator.
- They flow between the equator and about 20 0 to the south.
- Antarctic circumpolar current or westerly wind.
- It is an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica.
- This current is associated with the Antarctic Convergence.
The northern trade wind (equatorial) current (arrow 1), starting at the Cape Verde Islands, goes west between the 5th northern parallel and the northern tropic. Having met the Greater Antilles, it is cut by them. The southern branch (arrow 4) enters the Caribbean Sea, and then, together with the Guiana Current, into the Gulf of Mexico. The northern branch, called the Antilles Current, follows north of the Greater Antilles (arrow 3).
Atlantic Ocean Currents
Each of the currents follows a more or less definite pattern. But currents in the Indian Ocean change direction between summer and winter. To the north and south of the equator there are two westward moving currents, i.e. North and South Equatorial Currents. Between these two, there is a counter equatorial current that moves from west to east.
Atlantic Ocean: Northern Hemisphere
The South Equatorial Current splits into two branches at Cape de Sao Roque in Brazil, and its northern branch joins the North Equatorial Current. Part of this combined current enters the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and the remaining current flows along the eastern side of the West Indies as the Antilles Current. Part of the flow that enters the Gulf of Mexico leaves Florida Street and joins the Antilles current. Besides Cape Hatteras, it is known as the Gulf Stream. The confluence of these two currents, one cold and the other warm, creates fog around the region and makes it the most important fishing ground in the world. The Gulf Stream then diverted eastward under the combined influence of Western countries and the Earth's rotation. On this journey, another cold current from the Arctic, called the East Greenland Current, joins the North Atlantic Drift. The North Atlantic drift branches into two branches reaching the eastern part of the ocean. The northern branch continues as the North Atlantic drift; reaches British Isles, from where it flows along the coast of Norway as the warm Norwegian Current and enters the Arctic Ocean. The southern branch flows between Spain and the island of the Azores like a cold channel Canary Islands. The current channel finally joins the North Equatorial Current and completes the circuit.Atlantic Ocean: Southern Hemisphere
The South Equatorial Current turns south and flows along the east coast of South America as the Brazil Current. Around 35 southern latitudes, due to the influence of Western countries and the rotation of the Earth, the current moves east. A cold current called the Falkland Current, which flows along the southeast coast of South America from south to north, connects with the current. The Brazil Current moves east and crosses the Atlantic Ocean as the South Atlantic Current. Part of the westerly wind drift or Antarctic Circumpolar Current merges with the South Atlantic Current as it crosses the Atlantic. Near the Cape Good Hope The South Atlantic Current is diverted northward as the cold Benguela Current.Pacific Ocean: Northern Hemisphere
The North Equatorial Current turns north and flows along the islands of the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan to the warm Kuro Shio or Kuro Shiwo Current. Later, a cold current called Oya Shio or Oya Sivo, which flows along the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, merges with the Kuro-Shio Current. From the southeast coast of Japan, the Kuro Shio Current comes under the influence of Western countries and flows directly across the ocean like the North Pacific Current. Having reached west coast North America, it branches into two branches: the northern branch flows clockwise along the Alaska coast as the warm Alaska Current, and the southern branch moves south along the California coast as the cold California Current.Pacific Region: Southern Hemisphere
In the South Pacific Ocean, the South Equatorial Current flows westward and turns southward as the East Australian Current. From Tasmania it flows as the cold South Pacific Current from west to east and crosses the Pacific Ocean with the westerly wind. Upon reaching the southwestern coast of South America, it turns north and flows like the cold current of Peru or the Humboldt Current. The cold waters of the Peru Current are partly responsible for leaving the coasts of northern Chile and western Peru with very poor rainfall. Peru The current end joins the South Equatorial Current and completes the pattern. The circulation pattern of ocean currents in the Indian Ocean differs from the general circulation pattern in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This is because the Indian Ocean is blocked by continental masses to the north. The general circulation pattern in the southern hemisphere of the Indian Ocean is counterclockwise than that of other oceans. In the northern hemisphere there is a clear reversal of currents into winter and summer seasons, which are completely influenced by seasonal changes in monsoon winds.Indian Ocean: northern hemisphere in winter
The Northeast Monsoon Drift flows westward south of Sri Lanka with a countercurrent between it and the South Equatorial Current. During the winter season, in the northern part, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are influenced by the northeast monsoon winds. These northeasterly monsoon winds drive the waters of the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea westward to circulate in a counter-clockwise direction.Indian Ocean: Northern Hemisphere in Summer
This results in eastward movement of water in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea in a clockwise direction. Indian Ocean: Southern Hemisphere. In the southern part of the South Equatorial Current, flowing from east to west, is intensified by the corresponding Pacific Ocean current. Part of this current movement between the African mainland and Mozambique is called the Mozambique Warm Current. A branch of this combined current flows along the west coast of Australia as the cold West Australian Current. It later connects with the South Equatorial Current to complete the circuit.- It then crosses the Atlantic Ocean as the warm North Atlantic Drift.
- During winter, Sri Lanka shares the currents of the Arabian Sea with those of the Bay of Bengal.
- In summer, the northern part is influenced by the southwest monsoon.
- This current is called the Southwest Monsoon Drift.
- In the Indian Ocean, summer currents are more regular than winter ones.
- It then turns south along the coast of Mozambique in Africa.
- After the merger of these two parts, the current is called the Agul Current.
There is a surplus of water being created in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the waters of the Guiana and southern branches of the Northern Trade Wind Current, 600 km3 of water flows here annually, which is brought by the Mississippi flowing into the Gulf - one of greatest rivers peace. As a result, the water level in the Gulf of Mexico near the Straits of Florida is higher than in the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, through the Strait of Florida between Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas, a strong wastewater “current from the gulf” - the Gulf Stream - rushes into the Atlantic Ocean. The waters of the Antilles Current join it from the east, making it even more powerful.
The Gulf Stream, deviating to the right, leaves the American coast at Cape Hatteras and goes along the 40th parallel east into the open ocean (arrow 8). On the way to the Azores, its waters become more salty due to strong evaporation. Near the Azores, the Gulf Stream bifurcates. The smaller stream goes to the right, towards an acute angle, and, passing by the Canary Islands, receives the name Canary Current. It closes the northern equatorial ring of currents (arrow 9).
Inside this ring is the Sargasso Sea, the only sea that has no shores, as it is limited only by currents. The left, more powerful branch of the Gulf Stream, directed towards an obtuse angle, goes north, to the shores of Europe. This is the North Atlantic Current (arrow 10).
To the west of Ireland, along an underwater threshold stretching from Iceland through the Faroe Islands to Scotland, a stream separates from it and goes towards Iceland. It forms the Irminger Current, which brings warm water to the southern and western shores of Iceland. This is why the sea never freezes off the coast of Iceland.
Most of the waters of the North Atlantic Current, having passed the underwater threshold, are pressed by the rotation of the Earth towards Scandinavia. This is the warm Norwegian Current, thanks to which winter in Norway is mild. The sea and fiords here are always free of ice.
At Cape North Cape the Norwegian Current splits. The left branch (Svalbard Current) runs along the shallow waters of the Barents Sea north to Spitsbergen, preventing the formation of ice off its western shores. The right branch (North Cape Current) enters the Barents Sea.
In the Arctic Ocean there are currents running from the New Siberian Islands through the North Pole to the Atlantic Ocean. They bring trunks Siberian trees to the shores of Greenland. Thanks to the same currents, objects from the Jeannette ship, crushed by ice, ended up in Greenland.
The main current here is the East Greenland Current, running along the eastern shores of Greenland.
It was this that carried away the ice floe with the first drifting station “North Pole”. To the west of Greenland, in Baffin Bay, the very cold Labrador Current begins, carrying huge ice mountains - icebergs - into the Atlantic Ocean.
In the Indian Ocean south of the equator, currents correspond to the patterns of currents in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans that we have considered. You can verify this by studying a map of the currents of the World Ocean.
INFLUENCE OF SEA CURRENTS ON CLIMATE AND SHIPPING
Sea currents have a significant impact on the climate of the coastal parts of the continents. In both hemispheres between the equator and the 40th parallel eastern shores the mainland is warmer than the western ones. In the temperate zone, the relationship is the opposite: the eastern shores of the continent are colder than the western ones. In countries Western Europe winters are mild, and in areas of North America located at the same latitudes they are severe.
The contrast between the relatively mild climate of Scandinavia and the climate of Greenland, covered with a thick layer of ice, is especially noticeable.
The study of sea currents is necessary for navigation. Even with the low speed of the equatorial currents of the Atlantic Ocean - from 20 to 65 km per day - it is necessary to take them into account. Over the course of a day, such a current can shift the ship from its accepted course by 40-50 km to the side.
NASA specialists have created a new map of the world's ocean currents. Its difference from all previous ones is interactivity - anyone can independently look at all the stable water flows and determine the temperature nature of the flow.
Did you know that ocean water is heterogeneous? It is logical that closer to the surface it is warmer than at depth. However, not everyone knows that the volume of salt in ocean water, with rare exceptions, is inversely proportional to the depth at which this water is located - the deeper, the fresher it is. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, in the Arctic and Antarctic, deep waters are also saturated with salt - ice layers penetrating into greater depth, contain particles of surface salt evaporation, enriching the entire water layer with them.
The top layer of ocean water is driven by stable air currents. Thus, the map of ocean currents is generally identical to the map of sea winds.
Unique online map
A unique map with which you can examine in detail the currents of all the oceans of the world
The model was developed to demonstrate the mechanism of thermal circulation in the world's waters. However, the map is not completely accurate - in order to better demonstrate the difference between surface and deep water streams, in certain areas the depth indicator is somewhat overestimated in relation to the real one.
Animation component new card simulated by NASA scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center laboratory.
Comparative current contour map
Below is a classic contour map of the world's ocean currents in Russian, which schematically displays all the main cold and warm currents world ocean. The arrows indicate the direction of movement, and the color indicates the temperature characteristics of the water - whether a particular current is warm or cold.
