the ______________ is the most important factor in generating ocean currents
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What are the factors influencing ocean current circulation? Surface ocean currents are driven mainly by winds and are affected by seasons.Deep ocean currents are driven mainly by density and temperature gradients. However the most important and fundamental causes for the formation of the ocean currents are solar heating,winds and gravity. Source(s): Arasan · 9 years ago.
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Ocean current Deep ocean currents are driven by density and temperature gradients. Thermohaline circulation is also known as the ocean's conveyor belt (which refers to deep ocean density driven ocean basin currents). These currents, called submarine rivers, flow under the surface of the ocean and are hidden from immediate detection. Where significant vertical movement of ocean currents is observed, this is known as upwelling and downwelling.
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Ocean currents can be generated by wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes. Surface currents are generated largely by wind. Their patterns are determined by wind direction, Coriolis forces from the Earth’s rotation, and the position of landforms that interact with the currents. Surface wind-driven currents generate upwelling currents in conjunction with landforms, creating deepwater currents. Currents may also be generated by density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations. These currents move water masses through the deep ocean—taking nutrients, oxygen, and heat with them. Occasional events also trigger serious currents. Huge storms move water masses.
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Ocean Currents In this way, the ocean currents help regulate Earth's climate by facilitating the transfer of heat from warm tropical areas to colder areas near the poles. The water of the ocean surface moves in a regular pattern called surface ocean currents.
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- As these currents mix the oceans surface and deep waters, they help replenish the oxygen in the water. Other Causes of Currents. Other causes of currents include tides, rain, runoff, and ocean bottom topography. Topography is the surface features of a place.urface ocean currents are mainly caused by wind. The winds that most affect the oceans' currents are: The Role of Density. Differences in water density affect vertical ocean currents (movement of surface ocean water to the bottom of the ocean and movement of deep ocean water to the surface).
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- While the Earth's rotation plays a role in wind and ocean currents, it is a somewhat indirect one. The primary factor that affects the formation of winds is differences in atmospheric pressure, caused by differences in incoming solar radiation (insolation).
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Ocean Currents The Types and Causes of Ocean Currents. In addition to their varying size and strength, ocean currents differ in type. They can be either surface or deep water. Surface currents are those found in the upper 400 meters (1,300 feet) of the ocean and make up about 10% of all the water in the ocean. Surface currents are mostly caused by the wind because it creates friction as it moves over the water.
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- Surface ocean currents are primarily affected by wind patterns. Trade winds can push water along the top of the ocean and aid in the formation of surface currents. One example of a wind-driven circulation affecting an ocean current is the Gulf Stream.ncreasing carbon dioxide levels in waters and warmer water temperatures impact global ocean circulations, which are one of the primary drivers of weather, temperature, precipitation, and seasons, and therefore affect a variety of aspects of health. 1,2.
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Thermohaline circulation In the deep ocean, the predominant driving force is differences in density, caused by salinity and temperature variations (increasing salinity and lowering the temperature of a fluid both increase its density). There is often confusion over the components of the circulation that are wind and density driven.
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How does the sun cause ocean currents? The sun causes currents in the ocean because it is warming the water in the ocean in the day while it is hot, and then in the night when the sun goes down, the ocean starts to … cool.
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- Surface ocean currents are also driven by an effect caused by Earth's rotation on its axis known as the Coriolis effect. The rotation of Earth acts to turn or deflect prevailing winds clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, which deflects the surface currents.
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Ocean Currents Surface currents are those found in the upper 400 meters (1,300 feet) of the ocean and make up about 10% of all the water in the ocean. Surface currents are mostly caused by the wind because it creates friction as it moves over the water. This friction then forces the water to move in a spiral pattern, creating gyres.ecause ocean currents circulate water worldwide, they have a significant impact on the movement of energy and moisture between the oceans and the atmosphere. As a result, they are important to the world’s weather.
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Ocean current Ocean current. An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, the Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences, while tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon.
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Ocean currents can be generated by wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes. Surface currents are generated largely by wind. Their patterns are determined by wind direction, Coriolis forces from the Earth’s rotation, and the position of landforms that interact with the currents.
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Ocean Currents Surface currents are those found in the upper 400 meters (1,300 feet) of the ocean and make up about 10% of all the water in the ocean. Surface currents are mostly caused by the wind because it creates friction as it moves over the water. This friction then forces the water to move in a spiral pattern, creating gyres.
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Marine Biodiversity Wiki Surface Ocean Currents 1 2 3 4. Winds Drive Surface Ocean Currents. Global winds drag on the water’s surface, causing it to move and build up in the direction that the wind is blowing.
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- The density of seawater plays a vital role in causing ocean currents and circulating heat because of the fact that dense water sinks below less dense. Salinity, temperature and depth all affect the density of seawater. Density is a measure of how tightly a certain amount of matter is packed into a given volume.
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Currents Because the Earth rotates on its axis, circulating air is deflected toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This deflection is called the Coriolis effect. Click the image for a larger view. Coastal currents are affected by local winds.
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Oceanography Since the early ocean expeditions in oceanography, a major interest was the study of the ocean currents and temperature measurements. The tides, the Coriolis effect, changes in direction and strength of wind, salinity and temperature are the main factors determining ocean currents.
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- If you habitually talk fast, you need a variety of ways to punctuate your speech, and the most natural punctuation for speech is the pause you take when you reach for a breath. Writing without punctuation is ambiguous and cumbersome. Speech, without the punctuation of pauses, is unclear and hard to listen to.
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- As water is on top of the ocean, wind pushes it along, creating a  current. As it warms, it interacts with lower colder waters,  pulling them along with it. As water cools, … it rises and this  interaction creates ocean currents. 1 person found this useful.
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- The power of waves is one of the most significant forces of coastal change. Waves are created by wind blowing over the surface of the sea.As the wind blows over the sea, friction is created-producing a swell in the water. The energy of the wind causes water particles to rotate inside the swell and this moves the wave forward.The size and energy of a wave is influenced by:he power of waves is one of the most significant forces of coastal change. Waves are created by wind blowing over the surface of the sea.
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Currents Thermohaline Circulation. Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean’s surface. However, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface.These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water’s density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline).This process is known as thermohaline circulation. In the Earth's polar regions ocean water gets very cold, forming sea ice.As a consequence the surrounding seawater gets saltier, because when sea ice forms, the salt is left behind.hermohaline Circulation. Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean’s surface. However, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface.
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Ocean Currents and Climate Mass flows of water, or currents, are essential to understanding how heat energy moves between the Earth’s water bodies, landmasses, and atmosphere. 1  The ocean covers 71 percent of the planet and holds 97 percent of its water, making the ocean a key factor in the storage and transfer of heat energy across the globe.
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- A community for students. anonymous 2 years ago Which factor has a major effect on deepwater currents in the ocean? coriolis effect difference in water density winds continental deflection Biology.
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Oceanography Ocean currents. Since the early ocean expeditions in oceanography, a major interest was the study of the ocean currents and temperature measurements. The tides, the Coriolis effect, changes in direction and strength of wind, salinity and temperature are the main factors determining ocean currents.