What is Western intensification of currents?
What is Western intensification of currents?
western intensification The tendency of currents along the western margins of all oceans to be particularly strong, swift, and narrow, flowing northwards in the northern hemisphere and southwards in the southern hemisphere. Currents at the eastern margins of all oceans tend to be slower and more diffuse. See GYRE.
What is Western intensification and how does it affect currents?
In other words, the currents off of the east coast of the continents are more intense than currents off of the west coast of the continents. This phenomenon is known as western intensification , and once again it is due to the Coriolis Effect.
How do western boundary currents move water?
Western boundary currents are atmospheric heat sinks if they move cold water toward the equator, which occurs in the subpolar gyres, and atmospheric heat sources where they move tropical water into temperate regions, as in the subtropical gyres.
What causes Western intensification quizlet?
Western intensification causes: -Steeper slope of surface water in the section of the gyre as compared to the eastern section of the gyre. -Very swift western boundary currents. -A large volume of water within western boundary currents.
What are the 5 western boundary currents?
There are five major ocean-wide gyres—the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian Ocean gyres. Each is flanked by a strong and narrow “western boundary current,” and a weak and broad “eastern boundary current” (Ross, 1995).
What boundary currents are affected by Western intensification?
Sub-tropical western boundary currents are warm, deep, narrow, and fast-flowing currents that form on the west side of ocean basins due to western intensification. They carry warm water from the tropics poleward. Examples include the Gulf Stream, the Agulhas Current, and the Kuroshio Current.
How are western boundary currents formed?
Western Intensification of Boundary Currents The mounding of water is caused by converging equatorial flow and surface winds. The Coriolis effect is most intense in polar regions, so current flowing eastward near the poles is more dissipated than currents flowing westward at the equator.
Where is the western boundary current?
North Atlantic Ocean
The Gulf Stream is a powerful western boundary current in the North Atlantic Ocean that strongly influences the climate of the East Coast of the United States and many Western European countries. Click the image for a larger view. One particularly powerful western boundary current is the Gulf Stream.
What are the main western boundary currents?
In the North Atlantic, there are two main western boundary currents related to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC): the Gulf Stream flowing northward and the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) flowing southward.
Why are western boundary currents important?
Western Boundary Currents (WBCs) are important for the oceanic transport of heat, dissolved gases and nutrients. They can affect regional climate and strongly influence the dispersion and distribution of marine species.