News tagged with ocean circulation
New satellite movie chases post-Tropical Storm Alberto in Atlantic
On May 23, 2012, the remnants of post-tropical storm Alberto were chasing a frontal system over the Atlantic Ocean, several hundred miles east of the U.S. East coast. A new NASA animation of imagery from NOAA's GOES-15 satellite ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 23, 2012 |
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Geophysicists employ novel method to identify sources of global sea level rise
As the Earth's climate warms, a melting ice sheet produces a distinct and highly non-uniform pattern of sea-level change, with sea level falling close to the melting ice sheet and rising progressively farther away. The pattern ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 24, 2012 |
4.1 / 5 (8) |
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NASA views our perpetually moving ocean
(Phys.org) -- The swirling flows of Earth's perpetually changing ocean come to life in a new NASA scientific visualization that captures the movement of tens of thousands of ocean currents.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 10, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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CO2 was hidden in the ocean during the Ice Age: study
Why did the atmosphere contain so little carbon dioxide (CO2) during the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago? Why did it rise when the Earth's climate became warmer? Processes in the ocean are responsible for this, says a new study ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 29, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (10) |
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Expedition to undersea mountain yields new information about sub-seafloor structure
Scientists recently concluded an expedition aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution to learn more about Atlantis Massif, an undersea mountain, or seamount, that formed in a very different way than the ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Mar 22, 2012 |
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Caltech oceanographer tests new technology at the bottom of the Earth
(PhysOrg.com) -- The field of study of Andrew Thompson, assistant professor of environmental science and engineering at Caltech, presents not only theoretical challenges but logistical ones as well. That's ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 22, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Scientists aboard Iberian coast ocean drilling expedition report early findings
(PhysOrg.com) -- Mediterranean bottom currents and the sediment deposits they leave behind offer new insights into global climate change, the opening and closing of ocean circulation gateways and locations ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 24, 2012 |
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Huge pool of Arctic fresh water could cool Europe
British scientists have discovered an enormous dome of fresh water in the western Arctic Ocean. They think it may result from strong Arctic winds accelerating a great clockwise ocean circulation called the ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jan 23, 2012 |
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Pinot noir grapes reveal 700-year climate record
The French call pinot noir "the noble grape" and have long considered it a source of inspiration. Now it can also be appreciated as the reason for an extensive, localized climate record.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 09, 2011 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
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NASA's Jason-1 achieves a one-decade landmark
(PhysOrg.com) -- On Dec. 7, 2001, NASA and the French Space Agency Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) launched the Jason-1 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., embarking on a planned ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 08, 2011 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Baby turtles don't just go with the flow
At just a few centimeters long, hatchling loggerhead turtles may seem powerless to resist being swept around the Atlantic Ocean by powerful currents.
Dec 02, 2011 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
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Environmental conditions and predators affect Atlantic salmon survival in the Gulf of Maine
Stocks of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), which have been steadily declining for the past few decades, are facing new challenges in the Gulf of Maine, where changing spring wind patterns, warming sea surface temperatures and ...
Nov 17, 2011 |
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Stalled weather systems more frequent in decades of warmer Atlantic
(PhysOrg.com) -- Slow-moving winter weather systems that can lead to massive snowfalls are more frequent during the decades when the North Atlantic Ocean is warmer than usual, a new NASA study finds. The study ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 07, 2011 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Researchers discover Icelandic current, change North Atlantic climate picture
An international team of researchers, including physical oceanographers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has confirmed the presence of a deep-reaching ocean circulation system off Iceland ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 21, 2011 |
4.9 / 5 (13) |
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What caused a giant arrow-shaped cloud on Saturn's moon Titan?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Why does Titan, Saturn's largest moon, have what looks like an enormous white arrow about the size of Texas on its surface?
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 16, 2011 |
4.5 / 5 (20) |
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Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon the water, such as the Earth's rotation, wind, temperature, salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun. Depth contours, shoreline configurations and interaction with other currents influence a current's direction and strength.
Ocean currents can flow for thousands of kilometers, and together they create the great flow of the global conveyor belt which plays a dominant part in determining the climate of many of the Earth’s regions. Perhaps the most striking example is the Gulf Stream, which makes northwest Europe much more temperate than any other region at the same latitude. Another example is the Hawaiian Islands, where the climate is cooler (sub-tropical) than the tropical latitudes in which they are located, because of the effect of the California Current.
For more information about Ocean current, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
