What are wind currents caused by?

What are wind currents caused by?

Air currents are caused by the sun’s uneven heating of the Earth. As sunlight beams down on the Earth, it warms some areas, particularly the tropics, more than others. As the Earth’s surface is heated, it warms the air just above it. The warmed air expands and becomes lighter than the surrounding air.

Which ocean currents are caused by wind?

Horizontal Currents They are currents that occur on the top layer of the ocean and are primarily driven by wind. They affect the water on the upper 300m of the ocean.

What causes the two major types of ocean currents?

Ocean circulation derives its energy at the sea surface from two sources that define two circulation types: (1) wind-driven circulation forced by wind stress on the sea surface, inducing a momentum exchange, and (2) thermohaline circulation driven by the variations in water density imposed at the sea surface by …

What causes air and 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. Surface currents in the ocean are driven by global wind systems that are fueled by energy from the sun.

What are ocean currents answer?

An ocean current is any more or less permanent or continuous, directed movement of ocean water that flows in one of the Earth’s oceans. The currents are generated from the forces acting upon the water like the earth’s rotation, the wind, the temperature and salinity differences and the gravitation of the moon.

What kind of currents are caused by the wind quizlet?

Surface currents occur at the surface of the ocean and are caused by global winds; the Gulf Stream is an example. Deep currents occur deep in the ocean and are influenced by water density, salinity, and temperature. The Antarctic Bottom Water is an example. What three factors control surface currents?

How does wind cause surface currents quizlet?

Winds that blow across the Earth’s surface pushes the water causing surface currents to form. The winds will then cause currents. What is the definition of Coriolis effect? the curving of the path of a moving object from an otherwise straight path due to Earth’s rotation.

How are air masses and ocean currents related?

Warmer air masses rise into the atmosphere, creating areas of low pressure. As air masses cool high in the atmosphere, they sink and create areas of high pressure. The rising and sinking of air masses in the earth’s atmosphere create winds. These dominant wind patterns drive oceanic currents (see below).

What factors control ocean currents?

The two major controlling factors for deep ocean currents are salinity and wind. pressure and salinity. wind and temperature. temperature and salinity.

What impacts ocean currents?

There are many factors that influence ocean currents, four of the factors would be planet rotation, wind, density of water, and gravitation. Planet rotation causes the currents to move clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

What causes most surface currents?

A: Surface ocean currents are caused by winds. Wind currents run in certain directions because the earth rotates. Winds go to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.

What are the current wind patterns?

Global surface current patterns are driven by the wind, impacted by the barriers to flow provided by the land masses and the rotation of the earth, and ultimately derive their energy (like the wind) from the sun. Two circulation patterns dominate the ocean: wind-driven currents in the upper ocean and the circulation in the deep ocean.