ESYS 10: Ocean Circulation
Topics (with selected links):
Overview of ocean circulation: temperature, salinity, and density
Sea level anomalies and ocean circulation
Surface circulation: Wind-driven flow
World Ocean Circulation Experiment achievements
MICOM Atlantic Basin Simulation
TOPEX/POSEIDON Global Ocean Circulation (U. Texas)
Ekman effect: Convergence and Divergence
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen: Man of many facents (Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Vagn Walfrid Ekman
Wind-driven circulation and the Ekman Balance (Chereskin, UCSD)
Upwelling and Downwelling
coastal upwelling (NASA)
Sea surface temperatures associated with upwelling in the California Current System
Geostrophic Flow and Boundary Currents
coastal upwelling (NASA)
Sea surface topography example
Circulation examples: El Niño
El Niño Theme Page (NOAA/PMEL)
Geostrophic Flow and Boundary Currents
coastal upwelling (NASA)
Sea surface topography example
Circulation examples: El Niño
El Niño Theme Page (NOAA/PMEL)
Salinity
Ocean Salinity (GISS/NASA)
Why is the ocean salty? (USGS)
Thermohaline Circulation: currents due to density differences
Density of Ocean Water (UCAR)
World Ocean Atlas 2001 Figures (NOAA)
Antarctic bottom water (Rice University)
Deep Water Circulation (USC)
What happens if thermohaline circulation shuts off? (Climate Research Unit, University of East Anglia)