List of Ocean Currents of the World

List of Ocean Currents of the World: Oceans are the lifeline of the Earth and humankind because it plays an important role in the Earth's climate and in global warming. Over half of the world's oxygen is produced by the oceans and it absorbs 50 times more carbon dioxide than our atmosphere.

Through this article, check the list of ocean currents of the world, along with their nature.

List of Ocean Currents of the World 

What are Ocean Currents?

The Ocean Currents consist of horizontal and vertical components of the circulation system of ocean waters that is produced by gravity, wind friction, and water density variation in different parts of the ocean. They are classified into three-part i.e. Drift, Current, and Stream on the basis of the direction of flow, speed, and shape. They can be cold, warm, and hot.

Warm ocean currents originate near the equator and move towards the poles or higher latitudes while cold currents originate near the poles or higher latitudes and move towards the tropics or lower latitudes. The current's direction and speed depend on the shoreline and the ocean floor. They can flow for thousands of miles and are found in all the major oceans of the world.

The Ocean Currents in the northern hemisphere deflect towards their right while in the southern hemisphere deflect towards their left due to the Coriolis force. The only exception to this rule of the flow of ocean water is found in the Indian Ocean, where the direction of current flow changes with the change in the direction of monsoon wind flow. It is noteworthy that the cold currents are lesser in number as compared to the warm or hot current.

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