What direction does the North Pacific current move?

Asked by: Eric Stoehr

The North Pacific Current (sometimes referred to as the North Pacific Drift) is a slow warm water current that flows west-to-east between 30 and 50 degrees north in the Pacific Ocean. The current forms the southern part of the North Pacific Subpolar Gyre and the northern part of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

What direction does the North Pacific gyre move?

The gyre has a clockwise circular pattern and is formed by four prevailing ocean currents: the North Pacific Current to the north, the California Current to the east, the North Equatorial Current to the south, and the Kuroshio Current to the west.

Which direction do North Pacific currents rotate clockwise or counterclockwise?

Ocean gyres in the Northern hemisphere rotate clockwise and gyres in the Southern hemisphere rotate counter-clockwise due to the Coriolis effect. The major gyres of the ocean include: North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific and Indian Ocean gyres.

What direction does the Pacific Ocean Flow?

Winds and currents in the Pacific flow predominantly from East to West. Above the equator Pacific Ocean trade winds blow from the northeast. Below the equator they blow from the southeast.

Which direction do the south Pacific currents rotate?

Earth’s trade winds and Coriolis force cause the ocean currents in South Pacific Ocean to circulate counterclockwise.

What is North Pacific ocean current?

The North Pacific Current (sometimes referred to as the North Pacific Drift) is a slow warm water current that flows west-to-east between 30 and 50 degrees north in the Pacific Ocean. The current forms the southern part of the North Pacific Subpolar Gyre and the northern part of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

Why do ocean currents rotate differently in the northern and southern hemispheres?

But because the Earth rotates, circulating air is deflected. Instead of circulating in a straight pattern, the air deflects toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere, resulting in curved paths. This deflection is called the Coriolis effect.

Which direction will the net current flow be in response to a wind in the Northern Hemisphere?

Currents flow clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

How does the North Pacific Gyre work?

North Pacific
The gyre is generated by four prevailing ocean currents that move in a clockwise round pattern: To the north is the North Pacific Current, to the east is the California Current, to the south is the North Equatorial Current, and to the west is the Kuroshio Current.

Which way does the current flow in the Atlantic Ocean?

North Atlantic Current, also called North Atlantic Drift, part of a clockwise-setting ocean-current system in the North Atlantic Ocean, extending from southeast of the Grand Bank, off Newfoundland, Canada, to the Norwegian Sea, off northwestern Europe.

In what directions are the surface currents moving around San Diego California?

The California Current is a cold water Pacific Ocean current that moves southward along the western coast of North America, beginning off southern British Columbia and ending off southern Baja California Sur.

In what direction do cold currents generally flow in the Northern Hemisphere?

The Coriolis effect bends the direction of surface currents to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern Hemisphere. The Coriolis effect causes winds and currents to form circular patterns.

What current moves cold water south down the west coast of Europe and past Africa?

Benguela Current, oceanic current that is a branch of the West Wind Drift of the Southern Hemisphere. It flows northward in the South Atlantic Ocean along the west coast of southern Africa nearly to the Equator before merging with the westward-flowing Atlantic South Equatorial Current.