Learn OC.6b Vocabulary

Learn OC.6b Vocabulary

Currents

​Mass movements of water either horizontally or vertically.

​​current

​Ocean current with dynamics determined by the presence of a coastline.

​​boundary current

​Circuit of mid-latitude currents around the periphery of an ocean basin.

​​gyre

​The phenomenon in which western boundary currents are faster, narrower, more concentrated, and deeper due to the rotation of Earth.

​​westward intensification

​A layer of water in which the temperature changes rapidly with changes in depth.

​​thermocline

​Depends on density differences caused by variation in water’s temperature and salinity. They are the slow, deep currents that affect all the water in the oceans and transfer heat around the globe.

​​thermohaline circulation