{"id":218504,"date":"2022-12-15T16:14:47","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T10:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?page_id=218504"},"modified":"2022-12-15T16:14:47","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T10:44:47","slug":"answered-explain-how-ocean-currents-help-in-establishing-global-heat-balance-also-explain-the-relationship-between-ocean-currents-and-the-habitability-of-the-coastal-areas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-explain-how-ocean-currents-help-in-establishing-global-heat-balance-also-explain-the-relationship-between-ocean-currents-and-the-habitability-of-the-coastal-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] Explain how ocean currents help in establishing global heat balance. Also, explain the relationship between ocean currents and the habitability of the coastal areas."},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"616\"><strong>Introduction:\u00a0<\/strong>Contextual introduction.<br \/>\n<strong>Body:\u00a0<\/strong>Explain how ocean currents help in establishing global heat balance.\u00a0\u00a0Also explain the relationship between ocean currents and the habitability of the coastal areas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong>: Write a way forward.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The ocean covers 71 percent of the planet and holds 97 percent of its water, making the ocean a key factor in the storage and transfer of heat energy across the globe. Ocean currents represent a regular volume of water in a definite path and direction. They are like <strong>river flow in oceans.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>How ocean currents help in establishing global heat balance?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The oceans directly <strong>absorb more than two-thirds of the Sun\u2019s heat<\/strong>, an overall 25% of the planet\u2019s global heat budget is transferred through the actions of ocean currents.<\/li>\n<li>Ocean currents act much like a\u00a0<strong>conveyor belt,<\/strong>transporting warm water and precipitation from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the tropics.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Surface currents<\/strong> carry warm water toward the poles and deep currents bring most of the cold water back toward the equator.<\/li>\n<li>Without currents in the ocean, regional temperatures would be more extreme- super hot at the equator and frigid toward the poles. E.g., the <strong>North Atlantic Drift<\/strong> keeps the coasts of the North Sea (western coast of Europe) warm which is unusual for such high latitude.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Warm currents<\/strong> flow along the <strong>east coast<\/strong> of continents resulting in <strong>warm and rainy climates<\/strong> while cold currents flow along the west coast of continents.<\/li>\n<li>They pile up warm waters in tropics and this warm water is the major force behind <strong>tropical cyclones.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Relationship between ocean currents and the habitability of the coastal areas:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The cold ocean current creates a cooler, more <strong>stable environment for coral reefs and marine life <\/strong>and birds that often live much closer to the poles.<\/li>\n<li>Warm currents lead to evaporation, which turns into the <strong>rain for the coastal areas<\/strong>. For instance, North Atlantic Drift brings rainfall to Western parts of Europe throughout the year.<\/li>\n<li>In Antarctica, strong <strong>upwelling currents pump nitrogen and phosphates<\/strong> up from the deep sea to <strong>blooms of algae<\/strong> and other plants. The planktons are eaten by krill. The krill in turn feed penguins, seabirds, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Warm ocean currents are responsible for keeping the <strong>ports ice-free<\/strong>. Norway is a prime beneficiary of the North Atlantic Drift.<\/li>\n<li>Currents are also important as they help when docking and undocking boats, speeding up shipping lanes, and keeping the ships safe, primarily in narrow waterways.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ocean currents are emerging as a <strong>possible source of alternative energy<\/strong> for the coastal countries. As dense water carries an enormous amount of energy that can be captured and converted into usable form through use of water turbines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction:\u00a0Contextual introduction. Body:\u00a0Explain how ocean currents help in establishing global heat balance.\u00a0\u00a0Also explain the relationship between ocean currents and the habitability of the coastal areas. Conclusion: Write a way forward. The ocean covers 71 percent of the planet and holds 97 percent of its water, making the ocean a key factor in the storage and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-explain-how-ocean-currents-help-in-establishing-global-heat-balance-also-explain-the-relationship-between-ocean-currents-and-the-habitability-of-the-coastal-areas\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">[Answered] Explain how ocean currents help in establishing global heat balance. Also, explain the relationship between ocean currents and the habitability of the coastal areas.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-218504","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/218504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/218504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}