ENVIRSC 1C03 Lecture 13: Module 13
31 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
The ocean is made up of different thermal zones. At the surface: a warm layer that is mixed by waves and wind and is present at low and mid-latitudes. Is a zone of sharp decrease in temp and therefore represents a density barrier. At the bottom: the very cold, and deep ocean with temps near freezing. Much higher density than the mixed layer. Ocean currents are persistent and horizontal movements of ocean water. At the surface, they are driven by the friction from prevailing winds. This allows the exchange of heat from low to high lats. The direction of the water drift is influenced by the coriolis force which creates an ekman spiral. The direction and magnitude of the ocean currents is studied using drifting buoys equipped with radio transmitters which are placed at regular intervals in the ocean by research vessels. The drifters transmit their position to satellites which is then forwarded to the ground-base monitoring stations.
