Ocean currents
The world's oceans also play an important role in redistributing energy around the globe, and our understanding of how these work and their importance is growing over time. Ocean currents are movements of surface water, and account for about 20% of the horizontal heat transfers that take place to balance out the heat energy between the Poles and the Equator.
The globe's ocean currents are linked into a global system, which is commonly known as the Thermohaline Conveyor. 'Thermo' relates to temperature and 'haline' relates to salinity differences. Oceans
Warm less salty water travels at the surface of the oceans, driven by surface winds blowing over the top of the oceans. This water cools as it travels North and South of the Equator, and increases in salinity due to evaporation of warm water. The remaining water, now cool and salt-laden, sinks and returns to the Equator. The map below shows the pattern of currents across the world.
This oceanic circulation is hugely important for Western Europe, including the UK. One of the warm currents, the Gulf Stream, brings warm waters to Europe, warming this area to a temperature far higher than it should be given its latitude. Consider this, the UK is on a similar latitude as areas of Russia, which experience very hot summers and very cold winters, much more extreme than the UK's more temperate climate.
The globe's ocean currents are linked into a global system, which is commonly known as the Thermohaline Conveyor. 'Thermo' relates to temperature and 'haline' relates to salinity differences. Oceans
Warm less salty water travels at the surface of the oceans, driven by surface winds blowing over the top of the oceans. This water cools as it travels North and South of the Equator, and increases in salinity due to evaporation of warm water. The remaining water, now cool and salt-laden, sinks and returns to the Equator. The map below shows the pattern of currents across the world.
This oceanic circulation is hugely important for Western Europe, including the UK. One of the warm currents, the Gulf Stream, brings warm waters to Europe, warming this area to a temperature far higher than it should be given its latitude. Consider this, the UK is on a similar latitude as areas of Russia, which experience very hot summers and very cold winters, much more extreme than the UK's more temperate climate.