Or, you can [Return to Figure AABW water at abyssal depths in the ocean that forms from the sinking of dense cold water adjacent to Antarctica. Skip to content Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans. Previous: Next: Summary. Share This Book Share on Twitter.
The Alaska current flows north up the west coast of the United States and Canada before circling to the west once it reaches Alaska. The Antarctic Subpolar current flows west below the Antarctic Circumpolar current, which flows east. The Benguela current flows into the South Equatorial current and is fed by the South Atlantic current. The Brazil current flows into the South Atlantic current and is fed by the south branch of the South Equatorial current. The California current flows south from the southwest coast of the United States down along the west coast of Mexico.
The California current flows into the North Equatorial current and is fed by the North Pacific current. The Canary current flows from south along the north west coast of Africa from Morocco to Sengal. The East Australian currents flow from the equator and south, past the east coast of Australia.
The Equatorial Counter current flows east along the equator. The Equatorial Counter current flows east between the North Equatorial and the South Equatorial currents, which both flow west. The Kuroshio current flows into the North Pacific current and is fed by the North Equatorial current. The Labrador current flows south along the eastern coast of Canada to the northern United States.
The Labrador current is partially fed by the East Greenland current. Once it reaches the northern United States, it flows past the Gulf Stream. The Mozambique current flows south along the east coast of Madagascar and into the Southern Ocean. The Mozambique current flows into the South Indian current and is fed by the South Equatorial current.
The North Atlantic Drift current splits to flow north into the Norwegian current and to flow south into the Canary current. It is fed by the Gulf Stream. The North Equatorial current flows west just above the equator. The North Equatorial current in the Pacific Ocean flows into the Kuroshio current and is fed by the California current. The North Pacific current flows into the California current and is fed by the Kuroshio current. The Norwegian current flows north from the north coast of the United Kingdom to along the coast of Norway.
This current is fed by the northern branch of the North Atlantic Drift current and flows into the Arctic Ocean. The Oyashio current clashes with the Kuroshio current, which flows north into the North Pacific current. This is because ice will not incorporate sea salt into its crystal structure. Therefore, sea ice is actually drinkable. The temperature and salinity of the sea water also help determine its density.
As the temperature of sea water decreases the density also increases. Also, as the salt content of sea water increases , so does its density. This makes the density of sea water, unlike fresh water, below the freezing point.
So, in situations of sea ice formation, the salinity, and therefore the density of the underlying water continues to increase well after an area is iced over. In the "Average Salinity" map right below , it shows the lowest salinity in the polar regions. Bear in mind, this image depicts surface salinity only.
The surface salinity is lower in the polar regions than in the tropical regions due to melting each summer. However, each winter below the ocean surface, the increased salinity in the water due to ice formation, causes the water below the ice to sink and that sinking motion governs the motion of the ocean's deep-water currents.
NASA image. Please Contact Us. Toggle navigation JetStream. The new map was made from Aquarius's first two-and-a-half weeks of data. The instrument was blasted into space on June 10, , and became operational on Aug. The new Aquarius map reveals predominantly well-known ocean salinity features, such as higher salinity in the subtropics, higher average salinity in the Atlantic compared with the Pacific and Indian oceans, and lower salinity in rainy belts near the equator, the northernmost Pacific Ocean and elsewhere.
These features are related to large-scale patterns of rainfall and evaporation over the ocean, river outflow and ocean circulation. Aquarius is built to monitor how these features change over time, and study their link to climate and weather variations.
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