Ocean circulation refers to the large-scale, coherent movement of seawater driven primarily by wind stress, density gradients (thermohaline processes), Earth’s rotation, and basin geometry. It encompasses wind-driven gyres, western boundary currents, and the global overturning circulation that links surface and deep waters across ocean basins. Ocean circulation redistributes heat, salt, carbon, nutrients, and tracers, thereby regulating climate, biogeochemical cycles, and sea level. It is studied using in situ observations, satellite remote sensing, numerical models, and theory, with key research focusing on circulation variability, its sensitivity to forcing (e.g., greenhouse gas–induced warming and freshwater input), and associated feedbacks in the climate system.
In a world affected by climate change, the Southern Ocean plays an outsized role. It absorbs up to 40% of the human-caused emissions taken up by the oceans while also being home to some of the world's most vulnerable ecosystems.
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2025
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Deep below the surface of the ocean, unseen waves roil and churn the water. These internal waves, traveling between water layers of different temperatures and densities, draw cold, nutrient-rich water up from the depths and ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 25, 2025
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How is ventilation at various depth layers of the Atlantic connected and what role do changes in ocean circulation play? Researchers from Bremen, Kiel and Edinburgh have pursued this question and their findings have now been ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 17, 2025
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Monitoring changes in water temperature and pressure at the seafloor can improve understanding of ocean circulation, climate, and natural hazards such as tsunamis. In recent years, scientists have begun gathering submarine ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 16, 2025
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From more frequent wildfires to rising sea levels, climate change is disrupting ecosystems and upending once-stable weather patterns. One particularly alarming consequence of rising global temperatures is the potential collapse ...
A groundbreaking study in the journal Science, has unveiled how deep ocean currents—known as global overturning circulation—play a pivotal role in shaping the diversity and function of microbial life across the South Pacific ...
Ecology
Jul 14, 2025
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A new invited commentary by Ke Chen, associate scientist in the Physical Oceanography department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), highlights the significance of a study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Environment
Jul 9, 2025
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Biogeographical regions of marine organisms, i.e., their distribution across different habitats, often overlap well with the major global ocean currents. The geological age of the currents plays a major role in this. The ...
Ecology
Jul 2, 2025
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A patch of the Atlantic Ocean just south of Greenland is cooling while much of the world warms. The origin of this "cold blob" has been linked to weakening ocean currents that help regulate global climate—called the Atlantic ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 1, 2025
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At this year's Living Planet Symposium, attendees heard how ESA's Next Generation Gravity Mission could provide the first opportunity to directly track a vital ocean circulation system that warms our planet—but is now weakening, ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 26, 2025
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