Questions tagged [ocean-currents]
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1answer
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Where can I find wave height/period, current velocity and wind speed/direction data at the Qiangzhou strait in China?
I'm looking for time series of wave height/ period, velocity currents and wind speed/direction specifically for the Qiangzhou strait in China.
Global data sets could also work.
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0answers
29 views
Why an inertial gyro has a frequency and a geostrophic gyro does not?
Inertial flow is given by the balance between Coriolis and centrifugal forces. A geostrophic flow is given by a balance between Coriolis and the gradients of pressure. The frequency of the inertial ...
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0answers
83 views
Why do Mediterranean main currents surrounding landmasses turn counter-clockwise?
At North Hemisphere, main superficial currents turn clock-wise, because of Coriolis Effect.
I would expect on Mediterranean Sea to have currents turning in the same sense, but, surrounding landmasses,...
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2answers
95 views
What goes into a tide power prediction for every fifteen minutes over the next twenty five years?
I was watching a segment about tidal power generation on a PBS NewsHour broadcast. I've set the time code at about 11:45 to capture a little background. This bit ...
3
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1answer
54 views
Velocity gradient of surface ocean current in dephts
How much speed of surface currents decrease in ocean depth? Approximately? I am wondering if there is any significant gradient within the top 30m ocean layer? Can this be theoretically calculated?
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1answer
62 views
How is the distribution of Argo floats managed over the Earth's oceans?
The BBC News article Climate change: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated' mentions Argo floats as one technology to measure the temperature of the oceans, and links to argo.ucsd.edu where ...
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1answer
271 views
What is the (average) velocity of ocean currents?
Does anybody know where to find statistical (average, standard deviation) data on velocities of ocean currents, such as
Equatorial countercurrent North of Madagascar
Agulhas current
East Australia ...
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71 views
Is there a correlation between the underwater geological activity and topology of the mid Atlantic ridge/ South American plate and the Gulf Stream?
I just had a little eureka moment!
I was looking again at this mid atlantic ridge along the western edge of the Eurasian plate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_volcanoes
How it and the way it ...
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195 views
How are chenier ridges and strand plains formed at wave dominated coastlines?
In the attached image, we can see chenier ridges and strand plains. How are they formed and what is the involvement of rip and longshore currents in their formation?
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1answer
1k views
Why don't Antarctic waters have more upwellings, when Arctic waters are so rich in upwellings?
Formation of ice and hence more dense saltwater sinking happens in both polar regions, creating downwellings. Meanwhile, only a few spots in Antarctica have upwellings
I refer to this image:
https://...
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0answers
64 views
Stream function on a periodic domain?
Part 1
In this paper the authors calculate the barotropic stream function from an output of a numerical model as:
$$\psi(x,y)=\int_0^y\int_{-H}^0u(x,y',z)~dz~dy'$$
over a global domain and this is ...
5
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1answer
185 views
Why does wind blowing against a strong current create way bigger waves?
It's a well known fact that wind will cause very big waves if blowing against a strong current, for example in the gulf stream off the US coast, or in the bay of San Francisco with a very strong (5 ...
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1answer
266 views
If a prevailing wind traveled due east in the Northern Hemisphere, would the Coriolis Effect act on the water?
I am in a Marine Environmental Science II class, and we are discussing the Ekman Spiral. As I understand, the Coriolis Effect does not occur when whatever is observed does not change latitude. So, if ...
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140 views
Did the formation of Panama trigger the beginning of Ice Ages?
I have been studying ocean currents and associated energy flows in the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic oceans. I also looked at El Nino cycles.
I also noted when the large glacial periods ...
8
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2answers
205 views
What mechanism is used to measure ocean currents from cables?
The volume transport of the Florida Current (one of the parts of the Gulf Stream) is measured using an underwater cable. What are the processes that allow for these measurements? How can we obtain ...
5
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1answer
359 views
Guinea Current existence in the Atlantic
Why does the Guinea Current exist at all? There are no similar currents in the Pacific or Indian Oceans and the Guinea Current also disappear during northern summers. Why?
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3answers
182 views
Thermohaline current in North Atlantic
The thermohaline current in the North Atlantic ocean sinks because it gets cooled, or it gets cooled because of sinking?
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1answer
372 views
Depth of the wind-induced currents and the shoreline
In the open sea the speed of the current in the developed sea can be estimated as 3% the wind velocity at 10 meters.
Why is ocean surface velocity around 3% of wind velocity?
Is there a similar ...
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2answers
140 views
Land's effect on winds and currents?
If we did a thought experiment and imagined the Earth to be covered in a global ocean (ie. no land to slow winds or direct ocean currents) would winds and waves be perpetually enormous or would they ...
4
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1answer
314 views
Difference in surface temperature between the Northwest Atlantic and Northeast Atlantic
Why is the surface waters in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean colder than the surface waters of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean?
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108 views
Is there a formula to calculate shoreline length or water position from ocean?
Assuming in the past the water of the oceans were lower does it also mean that the water was not where it is right now?
If yes, then how do we calculate approximately where the water would have been ...
3
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1answer
454 views
How to calculate the kinetic energy spectra from ocean current timeseries?
How does one practically compute the kinetic energy spectra from a timeseries of u- and v- Cartesian components of ocean current velocity ($m s^{-1}$) obtained from an Acoustic Doppler Current ...
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2answers
99 views
If a ship on its way to Germany from Norway sank, where will the survivors likely end up?
a) what are the chances, taking into account influencing factors like ocean currents, that these survivors will end up on English shores?
b) what are the chances, again taking into account all ...
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1answer
242 views
Why is Thermohaline Circulation (THC) pivotal to life on Earth?
Thermohaline circulation (THC) is an instance in nature in which oceanic fluctuation of amassity, temperature and sodium matter is observed on a global scale. It is compared to and sometimes called ...
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0answers
273 views
Do U & V vectors differ depending on GRIB layers (wind vs current)?
Essentially I would like to know how current direction "DIR C" and wind direction "WDIR" for gribs is computed.
I'm trying to compute some angles from u and v vectors in grib files. My understanding ...
3
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1answer
179 views
North Bay of Bengal warm pool anomaly
I am looking for an explanation for this warm pool of water in the North and North East Bay of Bengal - North Bay Warm Water Anomaly. Currently the path of the sun is towards the southern hemisphere ...
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2answers
598 views
Why is Vladivostock so cold, while Dalian is so warm?
Over at SE History we're pondering the relation of temperature to Russian motives in establishing its Port Arthur colony in the late 1800's.
Wikipedia says that Vladivostok is cold due to the ...
3
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1answer
85 views
Making Sense of Coldwater Ocean Currents
The basic understanding of ocean currents is that warm currents carry moisture whereas cold currents carry nutrients. This is why some scientists believe in the connection between the Arctic ice caps ...
5
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1answer
498 views
Is the gulf stream both a wind-driven current and part of thermohaline circulation?
Currents are formed in 3 major ways:
Tidal Currents
Wind-driven Currents
Thermohaline circulation
I've seen the gulf stream mentioned as both a wind-driven surface current and being part of the ...
8
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2answers
3k views
Thermohaline: Why is cold and dense seawater salty when warm water holds more dissolved salts?
I read that thermohaline circulation is caused by cold and saline water sinking, while warm and less dense water rises. link
I understand that saline water is more dense, as there is a higher mass ...
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1answer
56 views
Can up-welling water at oceanic fronts be physically felt?
If you were swimming/floating within a body of water experiencing upwelling due to sea-surface thermal fronts, would you be able to physically feel the water that is being up-welled or is it on a ...
7
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1answer
627 views
ocean current frequency
In this paper by Muller and Garrett it is stated:
It is a standard expectation that
currents in the ocean interior with frequencies
much less than the Coriolis
frequency will lead to an Ekman ...
9
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1answer
787 views
What is the relationship between Ekman transport and Ekman pumping?
Ekman transport is the integrated horizontal flow in the boundary layer resulting from the balance between frictional forces (at the surface or bottom) and Coriolis. Meanwhile, Ekman pumping is a ...
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2answers
1k views
Great Pacific Garbage Patch Equilibrium Points
I was watching the science channel yesterday and the program mentioned the Great Pacific Garbage rim. I was struck by the illustration (and pretty much every subsequent animation/picture I've seen now ...
5
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1answer
518 views
What are the effects of underwater “windmills”?
Most early examples of tidal energy generators used barrages (damns) to generate electricity (La Rance, Kislaya Guba, Annapolis Royal). Meanwhile, a lot of newer projects use rotary blades in the ...
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0answers
65 views
Relationship between obliquity, antarctic circumpolar current, and atmospheric $\ce{CO2}$
Hannah's text on the biology of climate change appears to suggest that forcing due to changes in obliquity can act in opposite ways in Antarctic waters. On one hand,
"Low obliquity brings cool ...
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0answers
177 views
A Wide-Open Passage Between the Indian and the Pacific [closed]
Today, through plate tectonics, the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines stand as barriers between the Indian and Pacific oceans. In fact, there once was a warm ocean current flowing from the ...
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1answer
613 views
If the Oceans Were Deeper
Back home, the average depths of the world's oceans--and the Mediterranean Sea--are as follows:
Atlantic--3926 meters
Pacific--4028 meters
Indian--3963 meters
Arctic--1205 meters
Southern--4500 ...
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436 views
Does the Labrador current affect North Atlantic climate?
This summer has seen very low sea surface temperature anomalies in the North Atlantic.
Using animations of these over the last year I feel the runoff of freshwater from Hudson Bay, into the Labrador ...
3
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1answer
298 views
Best book/s of oceanic data treatment and analysis?
I would like to purchase a/some books which are really good and practical references to get into the oceanic data (wave heights,currents and sea level) treatment and statistical analysis, coming from ...
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2answers
274 views
What causes these odd-looking currents in the Tasman Sea?
I was looking at the model ocean current maps from earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions for 2015-10-07 00:00 UTC and there are a lot of odd-looking 'whirlpool' areas off the ...
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2answers
1k views
How to measure ocean vertical velocity?
While horizontal velocities in the ocean are relatively easy to measure, what methods are available to measure vertical velocities? Is there some indirect way to estimate vertical velocities from ...
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0answers
362 views
If there were no continent that spanning between the North and South Hemispheres would there be a Circum-equatorial Current? [closed]
Let's just imagine that there are no continents that span the equator like Africa and South America and also no large Equatorial Islands like those in Indonesian archipelago.
So that between latitude ...
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0answers
360 views
What would the climate be like on an Earth-like planet if it had only one convection cell per hemisphere?
Earth has three convection cells per hemisphere. These are the Polar cell, Ferrel cell and Hadley cell. These create the trade winds, westerlies and polar easterlies which control many aspects of ...
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1answer
547 views
Does bathymetry affect ocean topography/height?
Here is a map of ocean surface height or topography:
Source: http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2010/12/mean_dynamic_topography_of_global_ocean/9930795-2-eng-GB/...
11
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1answer
296 views
What is the area with the largest velocity vertical shear in the ocean?
While there are areas with really strong tidal currents in the ocean, these currents tend to be primarily barotropic. My question relates to the largest vertical difference in velocity and it is ...
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1answer
110 views
How much has the total transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current changed over time?
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), the oceanic current that flows around the Antarctic continent, has many links to weather and climate processes (e.g., Is there conclusive evidence for the ...
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1answer
914 views
How to Calculate the Equilibrum Function for use in Tide Calculations using Harmonic Constituents
I have found a wealth of information using Harmonic Constituents to calculate tide levels. H(t) = Amplitude * cos ( t * harmonicSpeed + phase lag). Yet when I try to apply this to constituents from ...
11
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1answer
255 views
Is there conclusive evidence for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current developing after the glaciation of Antarctica?
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the continuous oceanic current that encircles the Antarctic continent, as is often explained in the literature as being the cause of the onset of glaciation ...
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2answers
834 views
Forecasting oceanic rogue waves
A rogue wave is, according to NOAA, "a large, unexpected and dangerous" oceanic wave. These are also known as 'killer' or 'freak' waves and have been a part of folklore of the past and observation of ...
