Oceans Currents

Ocean currents are the movements of the water in the oceans. We can imagine them like huge rivers in the oceans. Their direction depends on many factors, like the rotation of the Earth, wind, differences in temperature and salinity, etc. There are two types of ocean currents – cold and warm ones. Cold currents originate in the areas with cool water near the poles, while warm currents are originated in equatorial regions. The currents also form large circulating systems, called gyres. There are two types of gyres: bigger subtropic gyres in areas near the equators and smaller subpolar gyres near the polar circles. We use to distinguish five big subtropic gyres: North and South Atlantic Gyre, North and South Pacific Gyre, and Indian Ocean Gyre. In the northern hemisphere, the currents circulate clockwise, while in the southern hemisphere anti-clockwise. The only variation in the circulation of ocean currents occurs in the north Indian ocean due to seasonal monsoon winds. In winter (November to March) northeast monsoon blows from the firm land to the ocean and influences the Indian ocean North equatorial current, called Monsoon drift, while in summer (April to October) the wind reverses its direction, and the resulting southwest monsoon results also in the inverse circulation of ocean currents. The ocean currents have a huge impact on the climate, biological diversity, navigation, etc.