Essay Example on Ocean Currents: Causes and Effects

Introduction

An ocean current is continuous movement of water at the sea. The movement of the water is generated by a number of factors. These generative factors act on the water, thereby causing regular movement. Some of these factors that cause movement include: wind movement, Coriolis Effect, breaking waves, temperature, and salinity. Depth contours, shoreline configuration and influence of these different types of current influence the direction within the ocean that they move. The paper will discuss in detail and demonstrate ocean currents, which are huge horizontal movements of the ocean water.

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Benefits of Ocean Currents

The ocean currents are not something to be assumed in geography, they play significant roles in the formation of the planet's climate. When the ocean current flow, they create a wave of conveyor belt. The conveyor belt, which is global, plays an active role in determining the climate of many parts of the earth's region. Ocean currents influence the temperatures of most regions, especially when they travel through a number of these regions. For instance warm currents travelling along the warm coasts of North Africa are the ones responsible for the desert climate at the Northern part of Africa. The warm currents cause the warm temperatures which has limited the growth of vegetation around the place, creating desert vegetation and climate that is experienced around the place. A perfect example is the case of Lima in Peru. Lima area of Peru experiences very cool climate. The cool climate experienced in the place is believed to be caused by ocean currents. The area based on altitude should receive sub tropical climate. However, it displays tropical latitude climate. It is believed that the cause of the type of climate in Lima area is the Humboldt Current influenced by the Pacific Ocean. Towards the equatorial region, ocean currents play an important role of controlling the heat from the equator towards the pole region (North Pole and South Pole). By moving the currents on both ends, the main source of heat is diverted thereby controlling the climate region along the equator.

Apart from controlling the climate ocean currents are also important in controlling the sea life. Sea life depends on food organisms and other nutrients to survive. It is through the ocean currents that food moves to these ocean organisms. Ocean and sea life that live permanently attached to one place, just like trees that depend on wind for reproduction, depend on ocean currents for their reproduction (Hays, 2017). Their reproductive cells are transported from one to the new places of life for the ocean life. These ocean life are important to humans. A lot of people in the world depend on fishing as an economic activity. Ocean current therefore is the backbone of fishing as an economic activity for humans.

Ocean currents are also important in power generation. Ocean currents are fairly constant in both speed and flow which the reason they carry large amounts of electric power. Devices that harness power are placed at the centre of the ocean and in turn process a lot of electric power. Turbines that are able to harness kinetic power from the ocean currents convert the power to electric power (Bressan, & Constantin, 2019). This kind of power extraction is used in Japan and other parts of the world. The major problem in implementing the electric project is that the ocean currents flow on the deeper part of the oceans making it difficult to fix substructure for supporting the turbines.

Disadvantages of Ocean Currents

With all the mentioned advantages the ocean currents are responsible for some disadvantages on the eco-system. Cold and warm current meet at some point in the oceans. The meeting point of cold and warm currents act as the source of foggy weather in the ocean which leads to the formation of ice blocks. Ice blocks in the ocean affect the eco-system and limit navigation for sailors and ships.

In conclusion, ocean currents are important because they contribute to the formation of the earth's climate. Among other benefits that analyzed above, ocean currents control sea life, subsidize to electric power generation and more. However, ocean currents are a source of foggy weather in the ocean which leads to the formation of ice blocks.

References

Bressan, A., & Constantin, A. (2019). The deflection angle of surface ocean currents from the wind direction. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124(11), 7412-7420. http://www.personal.psu.edu/axb62/PSPDF/

Ekmann2.pdfHays, G. C. (2017). Ocean currents and marine life. Current Biology, 27(11), R470-R473. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Graeme_Hays/publication/321036673_Ocean_currents_individual_movements_and_genetic_structuring_of_populations/links/5a93437245851535bcd93afe/Ocean-currents-individual-movements-and-genetic-structuring-of-populations.pdf