Rivers in the Sea

The ocean currents of the world play a very important role in our ocean system. The currents move throughout the oceans like the blood that moves through a body. They are “rivers in the sea” and they circulate ocean water throughout the world. Although the oceans are surrounded by continents and have been given special names (Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, etc), the water is actually mixed by currents into one huge planetary ocean. In fact, if you could follow a drop of ocean water, you would find that it would travel from one end of the Earth to the other.

There are two great forces that create our ocean currents. The prevailing winds cause the water to move. Just as the currents are the blood of the ocean, the prevailing winds are the breath of the ocean. The prevailing winds blow continually and set the water in motion. The Coriolis Effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth. If you were a drop of water north of the Equator, you would move throughout that ocean in a clockwise direction. If you were a drop of water south of the equator, you would move in a counter-clockwise direction. This great force gives currents their direction of flow.

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