OCEANOGRAPHY ARTICLES

Circulation or Ocean Gyres

An ocean gyre is a large system of circular ocean currents formed by global wind patterns and forces created by Earth’s rotation. Three forces cause the circulation of a gyre: global wind patterns, Earth’s rotation, and Earth’s landmasses. Wind drags on the ocean surface, causing water to move in the direction the wind is blowing. Earth’s rotation deflects, or changes the direction of, these

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Red Field Ratio

The Redfield ratio is the consistent atomic ratio of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous found in marine phytoplankton and throughout the deep oceans (C:N:P = 106:16:1). When nutrients are not limiting, the molar elemental ratio C:N:P in most phytoplankton is 106:16:1 In the ocean, a large portion of the biomass is found to be nitrogen-rich plankton. Many of these plankton

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North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is one of the most prominent and recurrent patterns of atmospheric circulation variability. It dictates climate variability from the eastern seaboard of the United States to Siberia and from the Arctic to the subtropical Atlantic, especially during boreal winter, so variations in the NAO are important to society and for

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El-Nino – Southern Oscillation

The name ‘ENSO’ is the close interaction between the atmosphere and ocean. It is an irregularly periodic variation in winds and sea-surface temperatures over the tropical eastern pacific ocean, affecting the climate of much of the tropics and subtropics. The warming phase of the sea temperature is known as El-Nino and the cooling phase is

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MIS/OIS Marine Isotopic Stages

Marine isotope stages (MIS), marine oxygen-isotope stages, or oxygen isotope stages (OIS) are alternating warm and cool periods in the Earth’s paleoclimate, deducted from oxygen isotope data derived from deep sea core samples. Working backwards from the present, MIS 1 in the scale, stages with even numbers have high levels of O18 and represents cold

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