Resting on the Y alta beach, swimming in the Black Sea water, it is hard to imagine that particles of this very water once washed the coast of Greenland or Antarctica. But there is nothing impossible in this, because the World Ocean (together with all its bays and seas) is a single whole. Quite fast in places, slow in others, the currents of the World Ocean connect its most distant corners.
The acquaintance with them happened a long time ago. The Spaniard Ponce de Leon (in 1513) went to sea to find the "Happy Islands". The ship fell into the stream of the Florida current, which turned out to be so strong that the sailboats could not cope with it. In the flow of the North Equatorial Current, Columbus sailed to America. Returning home, he said that "the waters move with the sky in a westerly direction." American merchant sailors learned of the existence of the Gulf Stream as early as the 18th century.
Currents of the World Ocean, more precisely their speed and direction,at first they were determined by the drift of ships that had strayed from their intended course. The wreckage of wrecked ships also helped determine their direction. There were not enough random objects floating in the sea, so the sailors began to throw corked bottles overboard, in which they put a postcard. The finder of the "trophy" indicated the place where he found the bottle, and sent the card by mail. Such messages are called "bottle mail". Later, the bottles were replaced with waterproof plastic envelopes.
The main role in the formation of surface currents is played by winds. The North Equatorial Stream (in the Atlantic Ocean) drives water into the Caribbean Sea, from where it flows out through the Strait of Florida and gives rise to the Gulf Stream. Kuroshio originates in the Pacific Ocean.
The warm Gulf Stream reaches European shores and flows into the Arctic Ocean and the Barents Sea, from which it returns with the already cold Greenland Current. On the way, the Gulf Stream loses some of the water. This water forms a circular current in the North Atlantic.
The words “warm” or “cold” current should not always be taken literally. These names are given to flows that violate the latitudinal distribution of temperature in the ocean, if the water in them is colder or warmer than the surrounding water.
For a long time it was believed that the powerful currents of the oceans, such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio, flow like rivers in the ocean. They actually differ from the surrounding water in salinity, color and temperature, but there is no continuous flow in them. gulf stream,for example, it is divided into separate jets, some of which deviate to the side and then completely separate from the main stream.
Not so long ago it became known about the existence of a whole system of bottom currents. They are formed as a result of the sinking of the Antarctic shelf waters to the bottom of the World Ocean. Thus, sedimentary material is transported and peculiar unidirectional flows are created, like waves in the coastal zone of the sea.
Currents of the World Ocean are the transporters of cold and heat, fish larvae, plankton and the paths of cyclones. The frontal zone in the ocean is very interesting. The mixing of waters of different temperatures is quite violent.
Currents play a huge role in the life of the ocean. They influence the distribution of fish, weather and climate.
To date, British scientists have compiled the most accurate map of the currents of the oceans. It was based on the results of observations of the GOCE satellite. This map is designed to help climate scientists develop computer models of the state of affairs on our planet.
