WORLD OCEAN SURFACE CURRENTS



BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

You probably have heard stories of bottles containing messages being tossed into the ocean only to be found hundreds of kilometers away after drifting for months or even years. Early investigators recognized that a message in a bottle could be a key to understanding the patterns of surface ocean currents. Drift bottles were dropped in oceans water in hopes that their discoverers would follow the instructions on the message and record the date and location of the bottles’ recovery. As incentive, small rewards were offered to those who dutifully returned the information. Today oceanographers rely on instruments and satellites to gather information on the speed, direction, and temperature of surface ocean currents.

Maps of surface ocean currents are essentially summaries of the vast quantity of data collected from oceans around the world. In this activity, you will use such a map to locate specific surface ocean currents and identify their properties.

PROCEDURE:

• Use the Global Ocean Current map on page 532 map to complete the data table.

|Ocean Surface Currents Data Table |

|Name of Current |Ocean Basin |Location in Ocean Basin |Temperature |Flow Direction Relative to the |

| |(Atlantic/Pacific/Indian) |(east/west) |(warm/cold) |Equator |

| | | | |(toward/away) |

|Gulf Stream |Atlantic |west |warm |away |

|California | | | | |

|Canary | | | | |

|Peru | | | | |

|Brazil | | | | |

|Kuroshio | | | | |

|West Australia | | | | |

|East Australia | | | | |

|Benguela | | | | |

|Agulhas | | | | |

ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS:

1. What is the relationship between the temperature of a surface ocean current and the direction of current flow relative to the equator ?

2. What is the relationship between a surface current’s temperature and the side of the ocean on which that current flows ?

3. What is the relationship between a current’s temperature and the direction of its flow on the east coast of a continent ?

4. What is the relationship between a current’s temperature and the direction of its flow on the west coast of a continent ?

5. Do the surface current move clockwise or counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere ?

6. Do the surface current move clockwise or counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere

7. Read pages 532-535. Answer questions # 1, 4, and 5 on page 535. Also, do questions # 8 and 14 on pages 546-547.

Read the section “Upwelling” on pages 538-539.

8. Define an upwelling.

9. Which side of continents are they most common ?

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download