SEOS: Ocean Currents

Ocean waters are always on the move. The flow of ocean currents carry warm water from the tropics warming high latitudes, and return cold water from the poles towards the equator. Water evaporating over the oceans interact with prevailing winds to influence rainfall patterns across the continents, sometimes creating droughts or floods. Through their influence on global and regional climate, ocean currents have a profound effect on our daily lives, both now and in the future.

The role of the ocean in the Earth's climate system is not the only reason for studying ocean currents. The flow of currents also help to create fertile fishing grounds where they mix deep water up to the surface in coastal upwelling regions, current eddies and in fronts where water from different currents meet and mix in ocean fronts.

The SEOS module on ocean currents aims to increase awareness of how the ocean impacts our daily lives, even if we live a long way from the sea. Each of the six main chapters include interactive material designed to stimulate student understanding. The first deals with the most important reasons for studying ocean currents, including their influence on climate, food security, maritime transport and leisure activities. This is followed by chapters giving more details of the wind driven surface currents, the global heat conveyor - a system of surface and deep currents, the influence of currents on life in the ocean, and the role of local currents in connection with tidal energy and the transport of pollutants such as oil. The last chapter deals with the many ways in which we can study ocean currents, with particular emphasis on measurements by a range of satellite instruments used to study ocean currents - from altimeters and SAR to sea surface temperature and ocean colour.