Warm and cold currents. Conventional signs and designations on geographical maps Contour maps of warm and cold currents
The direction of currents is influenced by the force of the Earth's rotation: in the Northern Hemisphere, currents move to the right, in the Southern Hemisphere, to the left.
A current is called warm if its temperature is warmer than the temperature of the surrounding waters; otherwise, the current is called cold.
Density currents are caused by pressure differences, which are caused by the uneven distribution of seawater density. Density currents are formed in the deep layers of seas and oceans. A striking example of density currents is the warm Gulf Stream.
Wind currents are formed under the influence of winds, as a result of the frictional forces of water and air, turbulent viscosity, pressure gradient, deflecting force of the Earth's rotation and some other factors. Wind currents are always surface currents: northern and southern trade winds, the current of the western winds, the inter-trade winds of the Pacific and Atlantic.
1) The Gulf Stream is a warm sea current in the Atlantic Ocean. In a broad sense, the Gulf Stream is a system of warm currents in the North Atlantic Ocean from Florida to the Scandinavian Peninsula, Spitsbergen, the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean.
Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the countries of Europe adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean have a milder climate than other regions at the same latitude: masses of warm water heat the air above them, which is carried by westerly winds to Europe. Deviations of air temperature from the average latitude values in January reach 15-20 °C in Norway, and more than 11 °C in Murmansk.
2) The Peruvian Current is a cold surface current in the Pacific Ocean. It moves from south to north between 4° and 45° south latitude along the western coasts of Peru and Chile.
3) The Canary Current is a cold and, subsequently, moderately warm sea current in the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Directed from north to south along the Iberian Peninsula and North-West Africa as a branch of the North Atlantic Current.
4) The Labrador Current is a cold sea current in the Atlantic Ocean, flowing between the coast of Canada and Greenland and rushing south from the Baffin Sea to the Newfoundland Bank. There it meets the Gulf Stream.
5) The North Atlantic Current is a powerful warm ocean current that is the northeastern continuation of the Gulf Stream. Starts at the Great Bank of Newfoundland. West of Ireland the current divides into two parts. One branch (the Canary Current) goes south and the other goes north along the coast of northwestern Europe. The current is believed to have a significant influence on the climate in Europe.
6) The Cold California Current emerges from the North Pacific Current, moves along the coast of California from northwest to southeast, and merges in the south with the North Trade Wind Current.
7) Kuroshio, sometimes the Japan Current, is a warm current off the southern and eastern coasts of Japan in the Pacific Ocean.
8) The Kuril Current or Oyashio is a cold current in the northwest Pacific Ocean, which originates in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. In the south, near the Japanese Islands, it merges with Kuroshio. It flows along Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and the Japanese islands.
9) The North Pacific Current is a warm ocean current in the North Pacific Ocean. It is formed as a result of the merger of the Kuril Current and the Kuroshio Current. Moving from the Japanese islands to the shores of North America.
10) The Brazil Current is a warm current of the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of South America, directed to the southwest.
P.S. To understand where the different currents are, study a set of maps. It will also be useful to read this article
Left a reply Guru
Ocean currents
Atlantic Ocean
Northern trade wind current is warm………………… (Sptt)
The Gulf Stream is a warm current …………………………. (Gtt)
Antillean current is warm ………………………… ………(Att)
The North Atlantic Current is warm…………… (Satt)
The Caribbean Current is warm……………………………. (Kartt)
The Lomonosov Current is warm…………………………… (TLt)
Guinea Current is warm……………………………(Gwth)
The Brazilian current is warm ………………………….(Grtt)
The Canary Current is cold…………………… …. (Kantha)
The Labrador Current is cold………………… (Labth)
The Bengal Current is cold……………………. (Benth)
Falkland Current is cold……………… … (Falth)
The current of the western winds is cold………………..(Tzvh)
Indian Ocean
The monsoon is warm…………………………………… (Tmt)
South trade wind current is warm…………………(Yuptt)
The Madagascar current is warm………………….. (Madtt)
The Somali current is cold……………………… (Somth)
The current of the western winds is cold………………… (Tzvh)
Pacific Ocean
The North Pacific Current is warm…………. (Sttt)
Alaskan current is warm……………………………(Att)
The Kuroshio Current is warm…………………………………(TKt)
The inter-trade countercurrent is warm……………. (Mprt)
South trade wind current is warm…………………….(Yuptt)
Cromwell Current, warm………………………………(TKt)
East Australian Current is warm………… (Watt)
California current is cold………………… (Calth)
Peruvian current is cold………………………(Perth)
The current of the western winds is cold………….…….. (Tzvh)
Arctic Ocean
The Spitsbergen Current is warm……………………..(Shtt)
The Norwegian Current is warm……………………….… … (Ntt)
The East Greenland Current is cold………(VGth)
Notes: 1. There are fewer currents in the Pacific Ocean than in the Atlantic Ocean.
(15 currents in the Atlantic, 10 in the Pacific, 5 in the Indian and 3 in the North. Total: 33 currents.
Of these: 22 are warm, 11 are cold).
2. The cold current of the western winds (Tzvkh) covers three oceans.
3. The warm South Passat Current (Yuptt) also flows through three oceans.
4. Warm inter-trade wind countercurrents (Mprt) are found in two large oceans:
in the Pacific and Atlantic.
5. Warm northern currents (Atlantic and Pacific) are found in two oceans.
6. In the Atlantic Ocean: 10 warm currents, 5 cold ones.
In the Pacific Ocean: 7 warm, 3 cold.
In the Indian Ocean: 3 warm, 2 cold.
In the Northern Ocean: 2-warm, 1-cold.
Left a reply Guest
Northern Trade Wind Current is warm Gulf Stream Current is warm Antilles Current is warm North Atlantic Current is warm Caribbean Current is warm Inter-trade countercurrent is warm South Trade Wind Current is warm Lomonosov Current is warm Guinea Current is warm Brazil Current is warm Canary Current is cold Labrador Current is cold Bengal Current is cold Falkland Current is cold Westerly Current is cold Monsoon Current warm South Passat Current warm Madagascar Current warm Somali Current cold Westerly Current cold North Pacific Current warm Alaska Current warm Kuroshio Current warm Intertrade Current countercurrent warm South Passat Current warm Cromwell Current, warm East Australian Current warm California Current cold Peruvian Current cold Westerly Current cold Svalbard Current warm Norwegian Current warm East Greenland Current cold
The fastest and coldest current in the Earth's Southern Hemisphere
New deep sea current
A new deep-sea current was discovered by ocean scientists. This current owes its formation to the melting of glaciers, which has only intensified recently. It carries cold waters from the coast of Antarctica to the most equatorial latitudes - this is exactly what Japanese and Australian scientists told the world when they published the results of their research in the journal Nature Geoscience.
According to scientists, melted glacial water enters the Ross Sea and heads east to the underwater Kerguelen Plateau, located 3000 km southwest of the Australian continent. The waters are then literally thrown out into the ocean in a rapid stream. This relatively small and narrow stream, the width of which is no more than 50 km, originates at a depth of 3 km. Its temperature is almost 0 degrees, or more precisely, 0.2 oC.
Current speed 700 meters per hour
Scientists looked closely at this current for almost two years and found that it is capable of transporting 30 million cubic meters of water in just one second, that is, its speed is no less than 700 m/h. Another, equally cold and fast current located in the Southern Ocean has not yet been found.
It is very difficult to identify and study such currents. In addition to the time spent, the researchers needed 30 impressive automatic stations, which had to be placed along the entire supposed current, and then regularly collect and process the readings from these stations, analyzing literally everything. After a two-year stay of the devices on the seabed, specialists removed them and again carefully compared and studied all the indicators of the devices.
Currents as an indicator of the health of the planet
This discovery, as scientists say, helps us study the mechanism of interaction between melting glaciers and the waters of the world's oceans, which still largely remains a mystery to people, and also better understand how the world's oceans will react to the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
It is worth noting that the most powerful warm current in the world's oceans is the Gulf Stream, and the most powerful current in the world is the West Wind Drift.
Victoria Fabishek, Samogo.Net
Warm and cold currents
Sea currents (ocean currents) are translational movements of masses of water in the seas and oceans, caused by various forces (the action of friction between water and air, pressure gradients arising in water, tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun). The direction of sea currents is greatly influenced by the rotation of the Earth, which deflects currents to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
Sea currents are caused either by the friction of the wind on the sea surface (wind currents), or by the uneven distribution of temperature and salinity of water (density currents), or by the slope of the level (discharge currents). By the nature of variability there are permanent, temporary and periodic (tidal origin), by location - surface, subsurface, intermediate, deep and near-bottom. According to physical and chemical properties – desalinated and salted.
Warm and cold sea currents
These currents have a water temperature that is respectively higher or lower than the ambient temperature. Warm currents are directed from low to high latitudes (for example, the Gulf Stream), cold currents are directed from high to low latitudes (Labrador). Currents with the temperature of the surrounding waters are called neutral.
The temperature of the current is considered relative to the surrounding waters. A warm current has a water temperature several degrees higher than the surrounding ocean water. Cold current - On the contrary. Warm currents are usually directed from warmer latitudes to colder ones, and cold currents - vice versa. You already know that currents significantly influence the climate of the coasts. Thus, warm currents increase the air temperature by 3-5 0C and increase the amount of precipitation. Cold currents lower temperatures and reduce precipitation.
On geographic maps, warm currents are shown with red arrows, cold currents with blue arrows.
The Gulf Stream is one of the largest warm currents in the Northern Hemisphere. It passes through the Gulf Stream and carries the warm tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean to high latitudes. This gigantic flow of warm water largely determines the climate of Europe, making it soft and warm. Every second, the Gulf Stream carries 75 million tons of water (for comparison: the Amazon, the deepest river in the world, carries 220 thousand tons of water). At a depth of about 1 km, a countercurrent is observed under the Gulf Stream.
Let us note another current in the Atlantic – the North Atlantic. It runs across the ocean to the east, towards Europe. The North Atlantic Current is less powerful than the Gulf Stream. The water flow here is from 20 to 40 million cubic meters per second, and the speed is from 0.5 to 1.8 km/h, depending on the location.
However, the influence of the North Atlantic Current on the climate of Europe is very noticeable. Together with the Gulf Stream and other currents (Norwegian, North Cape, Murmansk), the North Atlantic Current softens the climate of Europe and the temperature regime of the seas washing it. The warm Gulf Stream current alone cannot have such an impact on the climate of Europe: after all, the existence of this current ends thousands of kilometers from the shores of Europe.
In the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, the cold Peruvian Current passes. The air masses that form over its cold waters are not saturated with moisture and do not bring precipitation to land. As a result, there is no precipitation on the coast for several years, which led to the emergence of the Atacama Desert there.
The most powerful current in the World Ocean is the cold current of the Western Winds, also called the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (from the Latin cirkum - around). The reason for its formation is strong and stable westerly winds blowing from west to east over vast areas of the Southern Hemisphere from temperate latitudes to the coast of Antarctica. This current covers an area 2500 km wide, extends to a depth of more than 1 km and transports up to 200 million tons of water every second. There are no large land masses along the path of the Western Winds, and it connects the waters of three oceans - the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian - in its circular flow.
The direction of currents is influenced by the force of the Earth's rotation: in the Northern Hemisphere, currents move to the right, in the Southern Hemisphere, to the left.
A current is called warm if its temperature is warmer than the temperature of the surrounding waters; otherwise, the current is called cold.
Density currents are caused by pressure differences, which are caused by the uneven distribution of seawater density. Density currents are formed in the deep layers of seas and oceans. A striking example of density currents is the warm Gulf Stream.
Wind currents are formed under the influence of winds, as a result of the frictional forces of water and air, turbulent viscosity, pressure gradient, deflecting force of the Earth's rotation and some other factors. Wind currents are always surface currents: northern and southern trade winds, the current of the western winds, the inter-trade winds of the Pacific and Atlantic.
1) The Gulf Stream is a warm sea current in the Atlantic Ocean. In a broad sense, the Gulf Stream is a system of warm currents in the North Atlantic Ocean from Florida to the Scandinavian Peninsula, Spitsbergen, the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean.
Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the countries of Europe adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean have a milder climate than other regions at the same latitude: masses of warm water heat the air above them, which is carried by westerly winds to Europe. Deviations of air temperature from the average latitude values in January reach 15-20 °C in Norway, and more than 11 °C in Murmansk.
2) The Peruvian Current is a cold surface current in the Pacific Ocean. It moves from south to north between 4° and 45° south latitude along the western coasts of Peru and Chile.
3) The Canary Current is a cold and, subsequently, moderately warm sea current in the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Directed from north to south along the Iberian Peninsula and North-West Africa as a branch of the North Atlantic Current.
4) The Labrador Current is a cold sea current in the Atlantic Ocean, flowing between the coast of Canada and Greenland and rushing south from the Baffin Sea to the Newfoundland Bank. There it meets the Gulf Stream.
5) The North Atlantic Current is a powerful warm ocean current that is the northeastern continuation of the Gulf Stream. Starts at the Great Bank of Newfoundland. West of Ireland the current divides into two parts. One branch (the Canary Current) goes south and the other goes north along the coast of northwestern Europe. The current is believed to have a significant influence on the climate in Europe.
6) The Cold California Current emerges from the North Pacific Current, moves along the coast of California from northwest to southeast, and merges in the south with the North Trade Wind Current.
7) Kuroshio, sometimes the Japan Current, is a warm current off the southern and eastern coasts of Japan in the Pacific Ocean.
8) The Kuril Current or Oyashio is a cold current in the northwest Pacific Ocean, which originates in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. In the south, near the Japanese Islands, it merges with Kuroshio. It flows along Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and the Japanese islands.
9) The North Pacific Current is a warm ocean current in the North Pacific Ocean. It is formed as a result of the merger of the Kuril Current and the Kuroshio Current. Moving from the Japanese islands to the shores of North America.
10) The Brazil Current is a warm current of the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of South America, directed to the southwest.
P.S. To understand where the different currents are, study a set of maps. It will also be useful to read this article
The world's oceans are a huge amount of water. It is not in a calm state, but is constantly moving. There are several main currents of the World Ocean, which have their own names.
general information
Mariners were the first to learn about the presence of water currents in the ocean. Currents guided ships and helped researchers make their discoveries. An ocean current is the movement of a large amount of water in one direction. The speed of such movement can reach 10 km/h.
Rice. 1. Ocean currents
Currents are also called a river in the ocean because they have a certain direction and width.
The movement of water in the Northern Hemisphere occurs clockwise. In Yuzhny there is a counterclockwise flow of water. This pattern is called the Coriolis force.
Ocean currents arise under the influence of several factors:
- rotation of the planet around its axis;
- wind;
- interaction of gravity of the Earth and the Moon;
- seabed topography;
- coastline relief;
- water temperature;
- chemical and physical water properties.
There are warm and cold currents in the ocean.
TOP 4 articleswho are reading along with this
The concepts of cold and warm currents are relative. So they are called taking into account the difference with the temperature of the surrounding water.
There are about 40 major water streams in all four oceans. Most of them are in the Pacific Ocean. Below is a map of the world's ocean currents with names.
Rice. 2. Map of ocean currents
Warm water currents
A current with a higher water temperature than the temperature of the surrounding water mass is called warm.
One of the most famous warm currents is the Gulf Stream. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream begins in the Sargasso Sea, then goes out into the ocean along the coast of the United States.
The Gulf Stream is located in the Northern Hemisphere, but despite this, it flows counterclockwise, like water streams in the Southern Hemisphere.
The North Atlantic Warm Current influences the climate of Europe by passing near its shores. It also begins in the northern seas, and then rushes to the east.
The Pacific Ocean is home to the wide, warm Kuroshio Current. It starts in the Philippine Islands and reaches Japan.
Cold water streams
A current whose temperature is lower than the surrounding water is called cold.
The largest is the East Greenland Current, which begins in the Arctic Ocean and heads to the Atlantic.
Another cold current begins in the Bering Sea - the Kamchatka Current. It goes around Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands, and Japan, displacing the warm Kuroshio Current.
Using a map of the currents of the World Ocean, you can see that they all form a single coherent system.
Rice. 3. Currents form a strict system
What have we learned?
An ocean current is a flow of water moving in one direction. There are warm and cold currents. They have a significant impact on the climate.
Test on the topic
Evaluation of the report
Average rating: 4.6. Total ratings received: 180.
As a rule, their movement occurs in a strictly defined direction and can have a large extent. The current map below displays them in full.
Water flows are of considerable size: they can reach tens, or even hundreds of kilometers in width, and have great depth (hundreds of meters). The speed of ocean and sea currents varies - on average, it is 1-3 thousand m/hour. But there are also so-called high-speed ones. Their speed can reach 9,000 m/hour.
Where do currents come from?
The causes of water currents can be a sharp change in water temperature due to heating, or, conversely, cooling. They are also affected by different densities, for example, in a place where several currents (sea and ocean) collide, precipitation, evaporation. But basically, cold and warm currents arise due to the action of winds. Therefore, the direction of the largest oceanic water flows depends mainly on the air currents of the planet.
Currents formed by winds
An example of constantly blowing winds is the trade winds. They begin their life from 30 latitudes. The currents created by these air masses are called trade winds. There are the Southern Trade Wind and Northern Trade Wind Currents. In the temperate zone, such water flows are formed under the influence of westerly winds. They form one of the largest currents on the planet. In the northern and southern hemispheres there are two water flow cycles: cyclonic and anticyclonic. Their formation is influenced by the inertial force of the Earth.
Types of currents
Mixed, neutral, cold and warm currents are types of circulating masses on the planet. When the temperature of the stream water is lower than the temperature of the surrounding water, this is If, on the contrary, this is its warm variety. Neutral currents do not differ from the temperature of surrounding waters. And mixed ones can change throughout their entire length. It is worth noting that there is no constant temperature indicator for currents. This figure is very relative. It is determined by comparing the surrounding water masses.
In tropical latitudes, warm currents circulate along the eastern edges of the continents. Cold ones - along the western ones. In temperate latitudes, warm currents pass along the western shores, and cold currents along the eastern shores. The variety can be determined by another factor. So, there is an easier rule: cold currents go towards the equator, and warm currents - from it.
Meaning
It’s worth talking about it in more detail. Cold and warm currents play an important role on planet Earth. The significance of circulating water masses is that due to their movement, solar heat is redistributed on the planet. Warm currents increase the air temperature of nearby areas, while cold currents lower it. Formed on water, water flows have a serious impact on the mainland. In areas where warm currents constantly pass, the climate is humid, where there are cold currents, on the contrary, it is dry. Ocean currents also contribute to the migration of oceanic ichthyofauna. Under their influence, plankton moves, and fish migrate after them.
We can give examples of warm and cold currents. Let's start with the first variety. The largest water flows are: Gulf Stream, Norwegian, North Atlantic, Northern and Southern Trade Winds, Brazilian, Kuroshio, Madagascar and others. The coldest ocean currents: Somali, Labrador, California.
Major currents
The largest warm current on the planet is the Gulf Stream. This is a meridional circulating flow that carries 75 million tons of water every second. The width of the Gulf Stream is from 70 to 90 km. Thanks to him, Europe receives a comfortable mild climate. It follows from this that cold and warm currents largely affect the life of all living organisms on the planet.
Of the zonal, cold watercourses, the current is of greatest importance. In the southern hemisphere, near the shores of Antarctica, there are no island or continental accumulations. A large area of the planet is completely filled with water. The Indian and Quiet streams converge here into one stream and unite into a separate huge body of water. Some scientists recognize its existence and call it Southern. It is here that the largest flow of water is formed - the current of the Western Winds. Every second it carries a flow of water that is three times larger than the Gulf Stream.
Canary or cold?
Currents can change their temperature. For example, the flow starts from cold masses. Then it warms up and becomes warm. One of the options for such a circulating water mass is the Canary Current. It originates in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. It is directed by a cold stream along Europe. Passing along the western coast of Africa, it becomes warm. This current has long been used by sailors to travel.
