Currents

Currents are produced by gravity, forced produced by the wind, and water density variation in different parts of the ocean.

1. Explain how currents contribute to the distribution of marine organisms around the planet.

Currents affect organisms in a way for transportation. With many organisms in the ocean that use broadcast spawning as means for reproduction, currents aid them in their distribution since they “can not” move around. Taking giant clams as an example, they reproduce through broadcast spawning, in their egg – larvae form, they have little to no movement at all, that’s where the currents comes and aid them. Once they are at a certain stage, they then settle where they were taken off to and continue to live and grow - thus diversifying an ecosystem.

2. The primary factor influencing ocean currents is temperature regulation. What might happen to ocean currents (and has happened in the past) as global warming increases?

I believe that, because of the effects of global warming, which has several disastrous effects, in that it would increase the Earth’s temperature, thus increasing the area of warm currents limiting the cycle area of the colder currents, which will of course limit the amount of oxygen both in dissolved and gaseous form (an effect of global warming in terms of gas exchange).

3. Explain how current contribute to the distribution of marine organisms around the planet.

In some cases, where the water column is said to have low stability – in that the surface water becomes denser than the water below and a downwelling occurs, which displaces and mixes with deeper water, thus causing currents in an upward and downward shift until equilibrium is reached. This usually occurs in temperate and polar regions during the winter when the surface water cools.