How and where does West Wind Drift circulate?

Asked by: Alex Calovich

Antarctic Circumpolar Current(West Wind Drift) The largest and most important ocean current in the southern hemisphere. It flows in an eastward direction around Antarctica, and occupies a wide tract of water in the South Pacific, South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.

Where does the West Wind Drift flow?

Antarctic Circumpolar Current, also called ACC or West Wind Drift, wind-driven surface oceanic current encircling Antarctica and flowing from west to east.

What causes the west wind drift?

The West Wind Drift is formed by the interaction of strong westerly winds across the Southern Ocean and the large temperature difference between the Equator and the poles.

Is West Wind Drift a cold current?

f) Major currents of the Indian Ocean are West Australian (cold), and Agulhas Current (warm). g) The chief current surrounding Antarctica is the West Wind Drift (cold).

Where is the east wind drift?

The Antarctic Coastal Current, also known as the East Wind Drift Current, is the southernmost current in the world. This current is the counter-current of the largest ocean current in the world, Antarctic Circumpolar Current. On the average, it flows westward and parallel to the Antarctic coastline.

Where does the Gulf Stream flow to?

the Atlantic Ocean

The Gulf Stream is a strong ocean current that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean. It extends all the way up the eastern coast of the United States and Canada. The Gulf Stream is a strong ocean current that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean.

Where does the East Australian Current start and end?

It is formed by water masses from the Coral Sea—equatorial water driven by monsoonal winds from January to March and eastward subtropical flow from April to December—which pass southeast between the Great Barrier and Chesterfield reefs (20° S latitude), paralleling the east coast of Australia into the Tasman Sea.

How fast is the west wind Drift?

It encircles the earth, crossing the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans; the cold Bengal, West Australian, and Peru currents branch off from it in the oceans. Its speed is 1-2 km per hr.

Where is the western boundary current?

North Atlantic Ocean

The Gulf Stream is a powerful western boundary current in the North Atlantic Ocean that strongly influences the climate of the East Coast of the United States and many Western European countries. Click the image for a larger view. One particularly powerful western boundary current is the Gulf Stream.

Where is the Beaufort Gyre?

the Arctic Ocean

The Beaufort Gyre is one of the two major ocean currents in the Arctic Ocean, it is roughly located north of the Alaskan and Canadian coast. In the past, Arctic sea-ice would circulate in the Beaufort gyre up to several years, leading to the formation of very thick multi-year sea-ice.

What is the effect of the West Wind in the sky?

These clouds bring thunder, rain and lightning — “black rain, and fire, and hail”. As the sky becomes overcast with black clouds, the whole nature appears as a big dome of a grave in which the ‘dying year’ will be buried. Thus, the West Wind bring great commotions in the sky resulting in thunder, rain and lightning.

What causes the Kuroshio and North Pacific Drift to follow curved patterns?

What causes currents such as the Kuroshio Current and the North Pacific Drift to flow in curved patterns? The water being colder affects the way that the currents flow.

How does Shelley describe the power of west wind upon the sky on the sea and in the earth?

‘ As the West Wind is a very powerful force, it causes great commotions on the earth, in the sky and over the ocean. In the sky, the wind breaks the clouds up “like earth’s decaying leaves” that are shaken “from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean”.

Where is the western boundary current?

North Atlantic Ocean

The Gulf Stream is a powerful western boundary current in the North Atlantic Ocean that strongly influences the climate of the East Coast of the United States and many Western European countries. Click the image for a larger view. One particularly powerful western boundary current is the Gulf Stream.

How are western boundary currents formed?

Western Intensification of Boundary Currents

The mounding of water is caused by converging equatorial flow and surface winds. The Coriolis effect is most intense in polar regions, so current flowing eastward near the poles is more dissipated than currents flowing westward at the equator.

Why are there western boundary currents?

Sub-tropical western boundary currents are warm, deep, narrow, and fast-flowing currents that form on the west side of ocean basins due to western intensification. They carry warm water from the tropics poleward. Examples include the Gulf Stream, the Agulhas Current, and the Kuroshio Current.

What is the difference between western and eastern boundary currents?

To move the same volume of water through each side, western boundary currents are faster, deeper, and narrower than eastern boundary currents.

Where does the California Current come from?

The California current is the eastern boundary current of the North Pacific Gyre, running southward from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico. This current draws cool, nutrient rich waters from the Alaska current down along the western coast of North America.

What is the name of the current that travels uninterrupted around the Earth?

The circumpolar current merges the waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans and carries up to 150 times the volume of water flowing in all of the world’s rivers.

How do western boundary currents move water?

Western boundary currents are atmospheric heat sinks if they move cold water toward the equator, which occurs in the subpolar gyres, and atmospheric heat sources where they move tropical water into temperate regions, as in the subtropical gyres.

Why should western boundary currents be concentrated and eastern boundary currents be diffuse?

So the water continues westward, dynamically balanced between the force of gravity and Coriolis deflection. Why should western boundary currents be concentrated and fast, and eastern boundary currents be diffuse and slow? One reason is the converging flow of the trade winds on either side of the equator.

How are eastern boundary currents different from western boundary currents quizlet?

What differs between western boundary currents and eastern boundary currents? Western boundary currents tend to be hot, fast, and deep. Eastern boundary currents are cold, slow, and shallow.

Why are western boundary currents intensified compared to eastern boundary currents quizlet?

Why are western boundary currents intensified compared to eastern boundary currents? Earth rotates from east to west, pushing water more strongly toward the west.

What role is played by the Coriolis effect in western boundary currents?

The winds pull surface water with them, creating currents. As these currents flow westward, the Coriolis effect—a force that results from the rotation of the Earth—deflects them. The currents then bend to the right, heading north.

Which way does the Coriolis effect deflect wind in the Northern Hemisphere?

toward the right

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.

Why Coriolis force is zero at equator?

Because there is no turning of the surface of the Earth (sense of rotation) underneath a horizontally and freely moving object at the equator, there is no curving of the object’s path as measured relative to Earth’s surface. The object’s path is straight, that is, there is no Coriolis effect.