<h3>How do wind directions relate to surface currents of the ocean?</h3>
It has something to do with the Coreolis Effect, I think.
Also, surface currents are driven by wind.
PLEASE HELP! I need this as soon as possible!
<strong>Cape Verde best answer:</strong>
<p><i>Answer by Michel Verheughe</i><br/>Yes, both air masses and the sea are affected by the Coriolis force. All large body of fluids moving slowly are, in fact. But not the water draining from your sink or bathtub; thas is an urban legend.
Take, for example, the north Atlantic. At the south, there is the Hadley cell caused by the tropical heat and the rain forest belt. North of it, the air moves westward, following the trade winds. On the south side of the polar front, taken by the front low pressures, is the prevailing westerly winds going eastward. They turn around what is known as the Azores high pressure, on the high pressure belt between the Hadley and the Farrel cells. The prevailing winds in the north Atlantic turn clockwise around it, also affected by the right-hand effect of the Coriolis force.
The sea also follows the same direction. The Gulf Stream starts in the Gulf of Mexico, to move north-east to the north of Norway at roughly latitude 71 N, to sink and create a subsea current that is part of the thermohaline circulation, also known as the Oceanic Conveyor Belt, mixing the water of all oceans in perhaps a thousand years.
But a branch of the Gulf Stream moves south from Ireland and into the Bay of Biscay. From there it keeps south toward the Canary Islands and is called the Portuguese Trade. From the Canary islands, it moves south west, toward the Cape Verde islands and then, again toward the Caribbean, closing a path of clockwise circulation.</p>
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