Ocean Currents


Welcome to the JHU/APL Ocean Currents Web Site

 

Introduction

This web site is for students and teachers who want to know more about ocean currents and the role that oceans play in storing heat and influencing global climate. Ocean surface currents are important because they transport heat across the oceans. To give you some idea how important the oceans are for heat transport consider this: the upper three meters of the ocean carries as much heat as does the entire atmosphere!

 

Throughout this site, additional information for the teacher is available by clicking wherever you see the teacher icon. For example, clicking on this particular icon will lead you to a teacher's introduction to this web site, including a description of what national education standards this material is designed to meet. IF YOU ARE A TEACHER, CLICK ON THIS ICON NOW.

 

 

Oceans

The oceans are Earth's great storehouses of water. Much more than storehouses for water, the oceans for thousands of years have been important for transportation, food, and minerals. Although sea water is too salty for us to drink, it is the indirect supply of almost all of the water we drink. Through the hydrologic cycle, salty ocean water is converted into the fresh water of streams and lakes (Brown & Kemper, 1979, p. 251). For more information on the hydrologic cycle see the web site at http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/en/nature/prop/e_cycle.htm

The oceans of Earth are one continuous body of water which covers nearly 71% of our planet. The continents divide this body of water into different regions named the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean.

The average depth of the ocean is 4000 meters. Surface currents, such as the Gulf Stream, flow in the upper 20% of the ocean. Bottom currents, such as the North Atlantic deep portion of the Conveyor Belt, flow in the lower 20% of the ocean. And some currents, such as the outflow from the Mediterranean, are trapped in the middle layers of the ocean. Each of these currents is caused by different forcing mechanisms.

Click on the map or the list below to find out more about a particular ocean current.

 

 

 Go to the JHU/APL Ocean Remote Sensing Group Home page.