Table of Contents
What is gyre and how is it formed?
A gyre is a circular ocean current formed by the Earth’s wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet. 6 – 12+ Earth Science, Geography, Oceanography, Physical Geography, Physics.
What causes gyre formation?
In oceanography, a gyre (/ˈdʒaɪər/) is any large system of circulating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determine the circulatory patterns from the wind stress curl (torque).
What are gyres?
A gyre is a large system of rotating ocean currents. Wind, tides, and differences in temperature and salinity drive ocean currents. The ocean churns up different types of currents, such as eddies, whirlpools, or deep ocean currents. Larger, sustained currents—the Gulf Stream, for example—go by proper names.
What are the 4 main currents that make up one gyre?
The gyre has a clockwise circular pattern and is formed by four prevailing ocean currents: the North Pacific Current to the north, the California Current to the east, the North Equatorial Current to the south, and the Kuroshio Current to the west.
Where do gyres form?
Gyres are primarily created by global wind patterns, and the Coriolis effect shifts the winds that affect the water 45o to form the gyres. To the right, or clockwise, in the Northern Hemisphere, and to the left, or counterclockwise, in the Southern Hemisphere.
Where are gyres found?
Five permanent subtropical gyres can be found in the major ocean basins—two each in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and one in the Indian Ocean—turning clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern.
What are the 5 major gyres?
There are five gyres to be exact—the North Atlantic Gyre, the South Atlantic Gyre, the North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre—that have a significant impact on the ocean. The big five help drive the so-called oceanic conveyor belt that helps circulate ocean waters around the globe.
How many gyres are there?
Gyres are large systems of circulating ocean currents, kind of like slow-moving whirlpools. There are five gyres to be exact—the North Atlantic Gyre, the South Atlantic Gyre, the North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre—that have a significant impact on the ocean.
How do gyres rotate in the Northern Hemisphere?
In the Northern Hemisphere the gyres rotate to the right (clockwise), while in the Southern Hemisphere the gyres rotate to the left (counterclockwise). There are five major gyres in the oceans; the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian (Figure 9.1.
How do gyres affect climate?
Ocean gyres are present in every ocean and move water from the poles to the equator and back again. The water warms at the equator and cools at the poles. Because ocean water temperatures can transfer to the air, the cold and warm waters circulated by the gyres influence the climate of nearby landmasses.
How does a gyre work?
A gyre is the circular rotation of water within a basin that is driven by the wind. There are three different cells of wind that blow across each hemisphere of the Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere wind blows from east to west at the equator, pushing surface water to the northwest.
Where are gyres located?
How do gyres move in the Southern Hemisphere?
A gyre is a large system of ocean currents moving in a circle. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect. Because the Earth is rotating, ocean currents in the northern hemisphere tend to move in a clockwise direction and currents in the southern hemisphere move in an anti-clockwise direction.
How do gyres rotate in the Southern Hemisphere?
In the Northern Hemisphere the gyres rotate to the right (clockwise), while in the Southern Hemisphere the gyres rotate to the left (counterclockwise).
What is the result of a gyre?
Each gyre has a major effect on ocean circulation in that part of the ocean basin. As surface winds push the surface layer of the ocean with them, the surface wind gyres result in surface ocean current gyres. Along coastlines, the direction of movement of a gyre has a significant impact on continental climate.
Where might you find a gyre?
Where are the gyres?
Why do gyres rotate?