Marine Biology Lab Worksheet 2
Activity 1.1. Vertical Ocean Circulation NAME____________________________
Macintosh HD:Users:cayro:Desktop:Screen Shot 2016-06-20 at 9.48.04 AM.pngReading: Ocean circulation is an important aspect of ocean health because it controls redistribution of both heat and nutrients. Humans indirectly affect ocean circulation via climate change. To understand this let’s first examine what drives ocean circulation.
In the NASA Perpetual Ocean video, you learned that wind drives ocean currents laterally across the surface of the oceans. In addition to moving laterally, ocean water moves vertically (see Fig. 1). This is called upwelling (rising) and downwelling (sinking). Whether seawater upwells or downwells depends on a few things...
Figure 1 (right). Types of ocean currents.
Instructions: Answer the questions 1-4 to set up basic rules for how lateral current direction controls vertical motion of seawater.
Water density as a control on upwelling and downwelling:
1. What has higher density, warm water or cold water? (circle one)
2. What has higher density, salty water or fresh water? (circle one)
3. Given your answers for questions 1 & 2, surface ocean water that becomes _______ (warm or cold) and _______ (salty or fresh) will tend to downwell.
4. What part/s of the Earth’s ocean might experience a lot of downwelling as a result the formation of very cold water? (circle on Figure 2 below)
Macintosh HD:Users:cayro:Desktop:WorldMap.png
Figure 2. World map. Circle areas of ocean where high production of cold water would result in downwelling.