What is downwelling quizlet?

What is downwelling quizlet?

What is downwelling? a stream of water moving down toward the ocean floor. When surface currents move along the surface of the ocean, water from below moves up to take its place.

What are thermohaline currents quizlet?

Thermohaline circulation is a worldwide current system in which the warmer, fresher water moves along the surface while the colder, saltier water moves beneath it.

What can be said about sea level in the interior of a gyre?

in the center of an ocean gyre, the sea level is usually higher than outside the gyre. water that is forced down by downwelling typically has more oxygen but less nutrients.

Which ocean currents are categorized as thermohaline?

This highly simplified cartoon of Atlantic currents shows warmer surface currents (red) and cold north Atlantic Deep Water (NADW, blue). The thermohaline circulation heats the North Atlantic and Northern Europe. It extends right up to the Greenland and Norwegian Seas, pushing back the winter sea ice margin. (From [3].)

What drives thermohaline circulation quizlet?

thermohaline circulation- vertical circulation caused by changes in density; driven by variations in temperature and salinity. water that has same density over depth, it has neutral stability and is termed isopycnal.

What causes a gyre?

Three forces cause the circulation of a gyre: global wind patterns, Earth’s rotation, and Earth’s landmasses. Wind drags on the ocean surface, causing water to move in the direction the wind is blowing. Beneath surface currents of the gyre, the Coriolis effect results in what is called an Ekman spiral.

What happens downwelling?

Downwelling occurs when the water on the surface of the sea becomes denser than the water beneath it and so it sinks. Seawater gets denser when it gets colder or saltier. The water brought in by the surface gyres is pretty salty already, because it comes from the tropics, where evaporation increased salinity.

What is downwelling radiation?

Downwelling short-wave radiation at the surface has a component due to the direct solar beam, and a diffuse component scattered from atmospheric constituents and reflected from clouds. Upwelling short-wave radiation comes from reflection at the surface.