Name ________________________________________ Period _____ Date _________
Chapter 21.1 Earth Systems Major Ocean Currents Chart
Directions: Sketch and label the Major Ocean Currents Chart .
Earth System Standard:
SES5. Students will investigate the interaction of insolation and Earth systems to produce weather and
climate.
a. Explain how latitudinal variations in solar heating create atmospheric and ocean currents that
redistribute heat globally.
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2.)
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4.)
Placed chart in notebook behind the
Chapter 21 Word Study. (Friday, April 15)
Sketch was accurate with no missing elements.
All major ocean currents were accurately sketched,
and labeled with no abbreviations.
Sketch and descriptors were accurate and shaded,
neatly drawn and written, and large enough to be easily read.
____ yes
____ yes
____ no
____ no
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____ no
____ yes ____ no
FACTORS AFFECTING OCEAN CURRENTS:
Winds:
 All surface currents are affected by winds
 Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere
 Variations in air temperature lead to differences in air density and pressure
 Colder denser air sinks and forms areas of high pressure
 Air moves away from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas causing winds
Global Wind Belts:
 Global wind belts are a major factor affecting the flow of ocean surface water
 Trade Winds are winds located north and south of the equator
 Westerlies are winds are located next to the poles
Continental Barriers:
 The continents and other land masses in oceans are a major influence on surface currents
The Coriolis Effect:
 The curving of the path of oceans and winds due to Earth's rotation
 Wind belts and the Coriolis effect cause huge circles of moving water called gyres
 In the Northern Hemisphere above the equator, water flows in gyres to the right
 In the Southern Hemisphere below the equator, water flows in gyres to the left
Major Surface Currents:
 Equatorial Currents are located in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans
 Each of these three oceans have two warm-water equatorial currents moving west
 Between each of these currents is a weaker, eastward flowing current moving called the
Equatorial Counter current
Currents in the Southern Hemisphere:
 The world's largest current, the Atlantic Circumpolar Current, also known as the West
Wind Drift, is produced by westward winds
 Indian Ocean currents form a circular, counterclockwise gyre affected by monsoons which are
seasonal changes in the direction of the winds of a region causing wet and dry seasons
Currents in the North Atlantic:
 Warm water moves through the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico in a current called the
Gulf Stream
Currents in North Pacific
 The Kuroshio Current flows up the Asian coast and then down the North American coast
DEEP WATER CURRENTS
Deep Currents:
 cold, dense currents far below the ocean surface move slower
 the movement is caused by the difference in density with cold water sinking and warm water
rising
Antarctic Bottom Water:
 the densest and coldest water on earth
 the current is the Antarctic Bottom Water
North Atlantic Deep Water:
 cold with high salinity
Turbidity Currents:
 strong currents caused by underwater landslides