Ocean Currents

Ocean currents are horizontal or vertical and have two kinds. Surface and Deep water currents. The surface current, by the way, is in the upper 400 meters of the ocean which is 10% of all the water in the ocean, where as the deep water currents are found below 400 meters and is 90% of the ocean!

Surface currents are mostly caused by wind as it moves over water and creates gyre (which is a spiral pattern). Gravity also helps because where the water meets land, the water is warmer and the two currents converge. That is when gravity pushes the water and creates the currents. In the northern hemisphere gyres move clockwise, but in the southern they go counter clockwise.

I ocean currents are important because the ocean currents help the circulation of the earth's moisture, for example, humidity and rain. It also helps resultant weather, and water pollution. The friction and wind is a really important part of the making of the currents.

Here are some examples of some really strong, important currents like the Humboldt currents in the pacific, the Gulf Stream and Labrador Current in the Atlantic, and so on.