Wind Driven Surface Currents: Equatorial Currents Background

Patterns of
Circulation

 

Vertical
Structure

 

Ocean in
Motion

Wind-Driven
Currents and
Ekman
Transport

Geostrophic
Flow

 

Wind-Driven
Surface
Currents

Gyres

Equatorial
Currents

Western
Boundary
Currents

Rings

Upwelling and
Downwelling

 

Ocean
Conveyer
Belt

global circulation illustration and QuikSCAT images depicting wind speeds for atlantic and pacific oceans QuikSCAT wind speeds for Pacific Ocean QuikSCAT wind speeds for Atlantic Ocean
Credit: Dr. Pamela J. W. Gore, Georgia Perimeter College & JPL Winds Click to Enlarge QuikSCAT Image Click to Enlarge QuikSCAT Image

 

ocean surface wind by quickscat, description follows

This image shows wind speeds and direction in the Atlantic Ocean on August 1, 1999, gathered by the SeaWinds radar instrument flying onboard the QuikScat satellite. The intense surface winds of Typhoon Olga, represented by yellow spirals, can be seen moving around South Korea in the China Sea. QuikScat tracks its birth as a tropical depression in the Philippines and its northward journey in the western Pacific to its landfall in Korea. The eastern North Pacific is dominated by a persistent high-pressure system, whose anticyclonic (clockwise) flow creates strong winds blowing parallel to the coast of Canada and the United States. Three groups of very intense winter storms can be seen around Antarctica, which are associated with the season of maximum sea ice in that region of the world.