The Flow of the Oceans

Have you ever been to the beach and sat on the shore line and wondered how it all happened? How the tides drive the waves, and how they never cease? How some days the waves are bigger than others, and how sometimes the current is strong and angry, and other days it is smooth and weak? Did you ever think about the way these attributes of the ocean fit into a greater intricate picture of the way nature and the world works in cohesion with all the other aspects of nature and earthy processes around it? Or did you simply overlook the absolutely complexity and near-miraculous compilation of  nature's ways?

While it is for the most part common knowledge that the ocean has tides and currents, and that these tides and currents are constantly changing from strong to weak and high to low, most people do not understand why. 

Surface currents are the continuous and directed flow of water on the surface which are capable of propelling water thousands of miles, and submarine currents do much the same thing, only deep below the surface of the water. The ocean currents present in different geographical areas of the oceans have a largely significant impact on the climate of that particular area, and affect which regions are holistically temperate, cooler, or more tropical. The ocean currents also indicate and act as a reference point/ alarm clock for a multitude of marine creatures to carry out their life cycles by relocating. These currents have a large effect on the working of the ocean and the life which inhabits them. My favorite phenomenon with currents (is it weird to have a favorite current?) is the El Nino, which is a reversal of an ocean surface current strong enough to have a blatantly notable affect on climate changes, which can result in devastating storms and weather patterns. Most of the resent hurricanes and ones which have been engraved in your memory from the past manifest from an El Nino. 

Another aspect of motion in the ocean is the tides, which is perhaps even more attributed to the human eye onlooking the ocean than even the currents. The tides are a rising and falling of the surface of the ocean due to gravitational forces manifesting from the sun and the moon. According to NASA in 2007: "These changes in ocean surface level are known as tides and are evidence of the influence celestial bodies have on our planet. Without these external forces, the ocean's surface would simply exist as a geopotential surface or geoid, where the water is pulled by gravity without currents or tides." This strong gravitational fields surrounding the conceptual means of the moon and the sun have a huge affect on the rising and falling of the surface water of the ocean. The tides weaken the further away they are geographically from the sun and moon. Beccause of the liquidity of the ocean, the water is able to be easily moved by the gravitational forces 

 

Graphic showing currents: Currents and Tides