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An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, shoreline configurations, and interactions with other currents influence a current's direction and strength. Ocean currents move both horizontally, on scales that can span entire oceans, as well as vertically, with vertical currents playing an important role in the movement of nutrients and gases, such as carbon dioxide, between the surface and the deep ocean.
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The Agulhas Return Current (ARC) is an ocean current in the South Indian Ocean. The ARC contributes to the water exchange between oceans by forming a link between the South Atlantic Current and the South Indian Ocean Current. It can reach velocities of up to 4 knots and is therefore popular among participants in trans-oceanic sailing races.
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Delia Wanda Oppo is an American scientist who works on paleoceanography where she focuses on past variations in water circulation and the subsequent impact on Earth's climate system. She was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2014.
The Agulhas Leakage is an inflow of anomalously warm and saline water from the Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic due to the limited latitudinal extent of the African continent compared to the southern extension of the subtropical super gyre in the Indian Ocean. The process occurs during the retroflection of the Agulhas Current via shedding of anticyclonic Agulhas Rings, cyclonic eddies and direct inflow. The leakage contributes to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) by supplying its upper limb, which has direct climate implications.
References
- ↑ "PL24C-2676 - The Mann Eddy: formation and interaction with the North Atlantic Current". Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020 - 16-21 February 2020 in San Diego, Calif. American Geophysical Union. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ↑ Volkov, Denis. (2005). Interannual Variability of the Altimetry-Derived Eddy Field and Surface Circulation in the Extratropical North Atlantic Ocean in 1993–2001. Journal of Physical Oceanography. 35. 405-426. 10.1175/JPO2683.1.
- ↑ Bingham, R J; et al. (2010). "Using GOCE to estimate the mean North Atlantic circulation (Invited)". Abstract presented at 2010 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 13-17 Dec. American Geophysical Union. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ↑ Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News (21 Dec 2010). "Goce gravity mission traces ocean circulation". BBC News website, Science & Environment. BBC News. Retrieved 21 Dec 2010.
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