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Did you know? There are 3 levels of
water. The first is the surface area(warm water),
second is the upper water(cold water), and the deeper area is just the deep water(coldest water in
the ocean).
Layers and Temperaturesin the water
• The zone of rapid change from warm water to cold water with increasing depth.
Thermocline
•Thermocline is one of the things that causes circulation in the water.
The transition zone where coldwater is more dense then warm water.
PYCNOCLINE
Salinity
The concentration of dissolved salts in the seawater, expressed as parts per thousand.
Did you know? If you were to empty all the salt from the ocean all the land on the earth would be covered up to five feet high
Water mass
Large regions of the ocean have water with about the same temperature and salinity.
The Antarctic Bottom water is the most dense of all deep ocean water masses.
Deep in the oceano Thermocline and
Pynocline are essentially the same because the density of the seawater mainly depends on the temperature of the water.
The deeper and deeper you get into the ocean the colder and denser the ocean gets.
CIRCULATION
There are many things that contribute to the circulation in the ocean: first there’s the wind, second there’s thermocline and pynocline, and Third is the Coriolis effect.
It takes one year from the water to complete one circulation loop.
It takes force to make a mass of material move in a curved path instead of a straight line. The force that seems to make the water move in a curved path is the Coriolis force.
Coriolis force
The overall circulation of the oceans depends in a very fundamental way on the Coriolis effect.
The circulation of the upper layer of the ocean is caused mainly by the friction force exerted on the ocean surface by the wind. This friction force is called wind stress.
WindThe wind causes there to be a steady normal pattern of waves and currents along the ocean surface.
Gyres
A circular motion of water in each of the major ocean basins
In the North hemisphere the gyre circulates clockwise.
In the Southern hemisphere the gyre circulates counter-clockwise.
Gyres affect the world’s climate because it helps transport heat energy from low latitudes where the earth is warmed by the sun to high latitudes where the earth loses surface heat to outer space.
Surface Currents
Location: Surface of the ocean Speed: The flow is faster. Depth Affected: Affected surface layer. Cause: Density, temperature, and
salinity.
Deep Currents
Location: at the bottom of the ocean
Speed: slower flow Depth affected: Greater
thickness of the ocean Cause: Density,
temperature and salinity.
Scientists think that the cause of deep ocean circulation occurs when the mixing is caused by the warm water rising to the top, it’s possible it might be caused by tides.
Temperatures
Temperature’s on the east side of the continents are always warm
Temperature’s on the west side of the continents are always cold.
Upwelling
The upward movement of ocean water from deep in ocean to the surface
The upward movement of the deep water is called coastal upwelling and this occurs when the wind pushes the water offshore and causes deeper water to rise to the surface near the coast
Upwelling is very important because it moves the deep water, which is rich in nutrients, to the surface, and also because upwelling supports about half of the world fisheries even though these cool waters amount for only ten percent of the surface area of world ocean.
Downwelling
of ocean water from the surface.
Downwelling is thedownward movement
Walker CirculationThe walker circulation are circulation cells within the equatorial atmosphere caused by differences in climate.
El NinoDuring an El Nino everything changes like the climate, weather, the currents both deep and surface, and the temperatures in the water.
El Niño event can last from 2-3 years
El Niño and our Weather/Climate
Climatologists predict that earths climate will continue its warming trend at an increasing rate, probably because of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by burning oil, coal, and natural gas.
El Niño affects all of the states in the U.S. one way or another.
Climate changes during El Niño
The area of humid, rising air and abundant rainfall shifts eastward to the central pacific and even the eastern pacific. The western area is unusually dry. Sometimes there is an extreme drought there, and sometimes there are torrential rains and flooding in the normally arid areas along the west coast of South America. The easterly winds that blow near the equator weaken, and sometimes even reverse.
Jet Stream
El Niño affects the jet steams patterns, variations in the jet stream, which is a current of fast-moving air in the upper atmosphere, lead to changes in overall weather patterns.
Upwelling during El Niño
Upwelling during el Niño year changes drastically. This change brings a decrease in the amount of fish that we catch, because the warm water that rises to the coast makes fish go away from their regular area in order to find colder water and food. Many fish die during this time.
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