Oceans connect vast bodies of saltwater through waves, currents, tides, and exchanges of heat and dissolved substances. Coverage extends from marine chemistry and circulation to coastlines, seafloor environments, and changing ocean conditions.
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the only major ocean current able to circle Earth without being stopped by a continent. It flows eastward through the Southern Ocean, linking the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific basins while crossing every meridian. Its transport exceeds that of any other current,...
South of Africa, the Indian and Atlantic oceans exchange water through a turbulent border rather than a clean channel. The Agulhas Current races southwestward along Africa’s southeastern margin, carrying warm, saline water from the tropical Indian Ocean. Near the continent’s southern end, most of it...
Off Peru and Chile, some of the ocean’s richest feeding grounds begin with water rising from below the surface. The Humboldt Current System, also called the Peru Current System, carries cool water generally northward along western South America. Coastal winds move surface water offshore, allowing...
The Kuroshio approaches Japan as a swift corridor of warm, saline water, but it does not follow a fixed line on the ocean surface. Its axis shifts, loops, and exchanges water with neighboring seas. Those movements determine where heat accumulates, where deeper nutrients can reach sunlit layers, and...
Western Europe’s comparatively mild climate is often credited to the Gulf Stream, but that familiar statement compresses several connected processes into one name. The Gulf Stream carries warm water northward along the western North Atlantic, then transfers water and heat into a broader system that...