Lecture 17 - Indian and Polar Oceans

2 semi enclosed seas in indian ocean

persian gulf and red sea

how is the indian ocean divided

arabian sea in the west and bay of bengal in the east

what is unique of indian ocean

unique topography due to asia being a large land mass in the north

what drives seasonal variation in indian ocean

land-water temperature differences

what does the summer monsoon do in the indian ocean

changes the wind pattern

what is the dry season in the indian ocean

winter because there is high pressure over land blowing towards the ocean

what brings the largest rainfall in the world

summer monsoon that causes flooding in india and bangladesh

indian ocean currents

subjected to strong winds that reverse seasonally

western boundary current in indian ocean

somali current, agulhas current

agulhas current

western boundary current that extends beyond the tip of africa and shed eddies into ATL

connection of ATL and IND

agulhas current where eddies propogate into ATL

connection between PAC and IND

indonesian throughflow

what kind of water does the pacific bring to the indian ocean

input of warm fresh water from pacific

what is the indonesian throughflow driven by

high sea level in PAC and low in IND

what is the indonesian throughflow a part of

global ocean conveyor belt

two ocean currents in polar regions

arctic and antarctic

describe arctic ocean

shallow sea connected to sub arctic sea through narrow passages

describe antarctic ocean

continent surrounded by deep continuous current that connects all oceans

what are ocean currents in the polar regions important for

deep water mass formation

characteristics of antarctic circumpolar current (ACC)

continuous around the globe, transports water between oceans, driven by westerly winds, strong currents near polar and subantarctic fronts, large seasonal variability

what is ACC driven by

westerly winds

where are the strong currents in ACC

concentrated in polar and subantarctic fronts

what is ACC balanced by

momentum balanced by wind stress and bottom drag of ridges

where is the drake passage and why is it important

antarctic and it is narrow, barotropic, large variability, influenced by topography

where are the largest changes in ice in antarctica

weddel sea and ross sea

when is there the least amount of ice in antarctica

february - summer here

arctic ocean circulation

wind is small, tides weak, circulation driven by eddy/topography interaction

what are the arctic circulations driven by

eddy topography interactions

what is the surface flow driven by in the arctic

inflows from PAC and ATL

ice cover in arctic and antarctica

opposite times, most in march for arctic and least in antarctica