How do temperature and salt salinity cause currents?

How do temperature and salt salinity cause currents?

Currents may also be caused by density differences in water masses due to temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline) variations via a process known as thermohaline circulation. These currents move water masses through the deep ocean—taking nutrients, oxygen, and heat with them.

How do temperature and salinity affect deep water currents Brainly?

Answer: its d They create density differences that cause dense deepwater currents to flow toward the equator where they displace less dense, warmer water above them.

How does salinity of ocean water affect deep ocean currents?

As the seawater gets saltier, its density increases, and it starts to sink. Surface water is pulled in to replace the sinking water, which in turn eventually becomes cold and salty enough to sink. This initiates the deep-ocean currents driving the global conveyer belt.

How are temperature and salinity important to the oceans currents?

Temperature and salinity control seawater’s density. The weight of seawater determines whether it sinks or floats, helping to drive deep ocean circulation. At the sea surface, wind and waves move seawater — and the heat it carries — around our globe.

How does temperature affect salinity?

Increases in temperatures of surrounding entities like ice and an increase in precipitation adds fresh water into the sea, which lower salinity. Seawater with lower salinity is lighter in density and won’t sink as much as denser water.

Is salinity and temperature more of a factor when creating a deep water current?

Salinity, Density, and Temperature When the water molecules of the ocean become heated, they expand. Since warmer water thus can hold more salt and other molecules than cold water; it can have a higher salinity. To relate this to ocean currents, the higher the salinity of ocean water, the more dense it becomes.

Why does temperature affect salinity?

Increases in temperatures of surrounding entities like ice and an increase in precipitation adds fresh water into the sea, which lower salinity. Seawater with lower salinity is lighter in density and won’t sink as much as denser water. This process changes ocean currents.

How does salinity and temperature differences drive the motion of deep currents?

Dense water sinks below less dense water. This is the principle that drives the deep ocean currents that circulate around the world. A combination of high salinity and low temperature near the surface makes seawater dense enough to sink into the deep ocean and flow along the bottom of the basins.

What effect does temperature have on the movement of deep ocean currents?

The colder and saltier the ocean water, the denser it is. The greater the density differences between different layers in the water column, the greater the mixing and circulation.

Is salinity affected by temperature?

With increasing temperature, salinity decreases….and conversely, with decreasing temperature, salinity increases.

How does salinity and temperature affect density?

The warmer the water, the more space it takes up, and the lower its density. When comparing two samples of water with the same salinity, or mass, the water sample with the higher temperature will have a greater volume, and it will therefore be less dense.

Does salinity increase with depth?

Salinity changes with depth, but the way it changes depends upon the location of the sea. The lower salinity water rests above the higher salinity dense water. Salinity, generally, increases with depth and there is a distinct zone called the halocline (compare this with thermocline), where salinity increases sharply.