The Coriolis Effect: The Currents And Effect Of Ocean Currentss

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If you want to get an indication of what affects ocean´s currents we first need to separate the currents in two different currents, each of them being influenced by different variables.
The surface currents are mostly generated by wind, the shape of landmasses nearby and the Coriolis force. The effects of these currents are most noticeable until a depth of 400 meters.
Below around 400 meters deep we will see the effects of deep-water currents. These are affected by differences in density and saltiness. So called ``cold water basins´´ contain huge amounts of extremely cold water causing interactions between the warmer water flowing over it. This causes upwelling currents filled with nutrients and oxygen to mix with surface water …show more content…

He observed the movement of a billiard-ball on a rotating table. The Coriolis Effect is caused by earth’s rotation on his axis. If the Earth did not rotate and stayed in place, the atmosphere would circulate between the poles (high pressure areas) and the equator (low pressure area). Because the Earth completes only one rotation per 24 hours, the force caused by the Coriolis Effect is quite small and its effects generally become noticeable only for motions occurring over large distances and long periods of time, such as the water in the ocean. This force causes moving objects on the surface of the Earth to be deviated in a clockwise way on the Northern Hemisphere and in a counter-clockwise way on the Southern Hemisphere. We’re now going to give a mathematical meaning to the Coriolis Effect.
Newton’s second law of motion tells us that any resulting force may be defined by;
(1) F_res=m ×a
Since we are working in a three dimensional space we will give our formula vectors. We will now assume there are no other forces applied to the system we find;
(2) (F_c ) ⃗=m*(a_c ) ⃗
Since the Coriolis Effect is a Centripetal force it may also be combined

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