Essential Questions
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• What are ocean currents? (OSM-04)
• What is the purpose / role of ocean currents? (OSM-04)
• What is the Coriolis Effect? (OSM-05)
• What are thermohaline currents? (OSM-06)
• What are the major global gyres? (OSM-04)
• What are the major currents affecting Atlantic Canada? (OSM-04)
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Write the definition of current.
What are the 6 factors which effect currents?
What is a gyre?
What are the 3 purposes of ocean currents?
What is an eddy?
What are the features of a warm water eddy?
What are the features of a cold water eddy?
What is upwelling?
Where does upwelling occur?
Who discovered the Coriolis Effect?
In which direction are objects deflected in the Northern Hemisphere?
In which direction are objects deflected in the Southern Hemisphere?
What are the 2 reasons for the Coriolis Effect?
What are the 2 things the Coriolis Effect has an effect upon?
What drives thermohaline currents?
What happens to water at the Earth’s poles?
Trace the path of the Earth’s thermohaline current. Where does the current begin? Color cold areas with blue and warm areas with red.
THERMOHALINE CURRENT
How strong is the force of the thermohaline current?
How fast does the thermohaline current move? Compare this to surface currents.
Why are thermohaline currents important to the food chain?
Other than contributing to the food chain, what else do thermohaline currents do?
Name the five major Earth gyres.
Label the 5 gyres:
The Endless Voyage - Deep Connections
1. What things do ocean currents move?
2. What two factors influence currents?
3. The driving mechanisms of currents are pressure difference created by differences in
______and ______.
4. How long does it take for water to complete a circulation circuit? ______
5. Thermohaline circulation is also called ______.
6. What controls the pattern of thermohaline circulation?
7. How will the thermohaline circulation change, for perhaps a hundred years, if there is enough warming to melt sea ice and increase arctic precipitation?
8. How much turbulence is present on the abyssal plains?
9. How does this compare to turbulence at the oceanic ridges?
What are the 5 currents affecting Atlantic Canada?
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