Ocean Currents and Climate What causes surface currents? What causes deep currents?

What Causes surface currents? Surface currents follow Earth’s global wind patterns Surface currents are driven by wind Global winds are causes by different amounts of solar energy that strikes different parts of the Earth So, the sun also provides the energy that drives the surface currents

The Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream is the largest and most powerful surface current in the North Atlantic Ocean The Gulf Stream moves warm water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Caribbean Sea, then continues northward along the east coast of the US

El Nino El Nino is a climate event that happens every two to seven years in the Pacific Ocean El Nino is the “lazy little brother” – causing an unusual heating of the waters off the coast of Central America in the Pacific Causes especially warm winters in the southern US, and heavy rain, flooding and mudslides in CA

La Nina The “Angry Big Sister” is mother natures way of balancing out the build-up of energy in Central America Stronger global winds blow across the Pacific Ocean causing cold water to come up and take the place of the warm ocean water This means more hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean

What causes Deep Ocean Currents? Deep ocean currents are caused by differences in the density of ocean water As the temperatures of the water near the poles decreases and its salinity increases, the water becomes denser and sinks The cold dense water flows back along the ocean floor as a deep current The Global Ocean Conveyor is responsible for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and supplying Oxygen to deep water ocean life

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