World Ocean Currents

Alpha #Name:Date:Period:

Today, oceanographers rely on a vast array of instruments and satellites to gather information about the speed, direction, and temperatures of ocean currents. Maps of surfaces ocean currents, such as the one on page 532 of your text, are essentially summaries of the vast quantities of data collected from oceans all over the world.

Lab Skills and Objectives

  • Identify and describe Earth’s major ocean currents.
  • Interpret the relationship between prevailing winds and ocean currents.

Materials

  • Global Ocean Currents map, Chapter 21, page 521 of your text.
  • Three-celled Circulation Model map, Chapter 21, page 520 of your text.
  • Copies of these Maps (Handouts)

Procedure

1. using the Global Ocean Currents map on page 521 of your text, locate each of the ocean currents listed in the Ocean Currents Data Table below. Use the map to complete the data table. Answer Analysis and Conclusion Questions 1-5.

2. For each of the currents in the Ocean Currents Data Table- Color them Blue or Red based on weather they are a warm or cold water current.

3. Lay a sheet of tracing paper over the Global Ocean Currents maps. Trace the outline of Earth. Trace the latitude lines for the equator and for latitudes 30°N, 30° S, 60° N, and 60° N.

4. For each of the four regions bounded by the five latitude lines, determine the prevailing wind using the Three-celled Circulation Model map one page 520 of your text. Draw arrows on your tracing paper to represent these winds. Answer Questions 6-8.

Ocean Currents Data Table

Name of current / Ocean Basin
(Atlantic/Pacific/Indian) / Location in
Ocean Basin
(East/West) / General
Temperature
(warm/cold) / Flow Direction Relative to Equator
(toward/away from)
Gulf Stream
California
Canary
Peru
Brazil
Kuroshio
W.Australia
E. Australia
Benguela
Agulhas

Analysis and Conclusion

1. Based on the data table, what is the relationship between the temperature of an ocean current and the direction of current flow relative to the equator? Explain why this relationship exists.

2. What is the general relationship between a current’s temperature and the side of the ocean on which that current flows

3. Along the east coast of a continent, what is the general relationship between a current’s temperature and the direction of its flow? What is the general relationship along the west coast of a continent?

4. In what direction, clockwise of counterclockwise, do the major circulation patterns rotate in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres? Why does each hemisphere have a different pattern?

5. Compare your tracing paper to the Global Ocean Currents map. Observe the prevailing winds and currents in the Northern Hemisphere. In general, do the currents flow to the left or to the right of the prevailing wind direction? What effect could cause this deflection?

6. In the Southern Hemisphere, do the currents flow to the left or to the right of the prevailing wind direction? What effect could cause this deflection?

7. Which prevailing winds are most likely responsible for driving the West Winds Drift? Why odes this current travel in nearly a straight path around Earth?

30 N

30 S