NASA: The Thermohaline Circulation (The Great Ocean Conveyor Belt) [720p]

The oceans are mostly composed of warm salty water near the surface over cold, less salty water in the ocean depths. These two regions don't mix except in certain special areas. The ocean currents, the movement of the ocean in the surface layer, are driven mostly by the wind. In certain areas near the polar oceans, the colder surface water also gets saltier due to evaporation or sea ice formation. In these regions, the surface water becomes dense enough to sink to the ocean depths. This pumping of surface water into the deep ocean forces the deep water to move horizontally until it can find an area on the world where it can rise back to the surface and close the current loop. This usually occurs in the equatorial ocean, mostly in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. This very large, slow current is called the thermohaline circulation because it is caused by temperature and salinity (haline) variations.
This animation shows one of the major regions where this pumping occurs, the North Atlantic Ocean around Greenland, Iceland, and the North Sea. The surface ocean current brings new water to this region from the South Atlantic via the Gulf Stream and the water returns to the South Atlantic via the North Atlantic Deep Water current. The continual influx of warm water into the North Atlantic polar ocean keeps the regions around Iceland and southern Greenland mostly free of sea ice year round.

The animation also shows another feature of the global ocean circulation: the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The region around latitude 60 south is the the only part of the Earth where the ocean can flow all the way around the world with no land in the way. As a result, both the surface and deep waters flow from west to east around Antarctica. This circumpolar motion links the world's oceans and allows the deep water circulation from the Atlantic to rise in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the surface circulation to close with the northward flow in the Atlantic.

The color on the world's ocean's at the beginning of this animation represents surface water density, with dark regions being most dense and light regions being least dense (see the animation Sea Surface Temperature, Salinity and Density). The depths of the oceans are highly exaggerated to better illustrate the differences between the surface flows and deep water flows. The actual flows in this model are based on current theories of the thermohaline circulation rather than actual data. The thermohaline circulation is a very slow moving current that can be difficult to distinguish from general ocean circulation. Therefore, it is difficult to measure or simulate.

This animation first depicts thermohaline surface flows over surface density, and illustrates the sinking of water in the dense ocean near Iceland and Greenland. The surface of the ocean then fades away and the animation pulls back to show the global thermohaline circulation.

credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/UMBC

[hbczjcu]

i enjoy his voice so incredibly much. it's exquisite.

[WokeandProud]

incredible and this is what manipulates and controls our weather climate system awesome

[thor]

The worst part is if it stalls Iceland is at ground zero for cooling, we'll be sitting under an ever growing glacial advance if predictions are that this stall could start a mini ice age.

[timmiltz]

I love the crisscross off of central eastern South America, where you have the warmer TH currents moving north on top, and the cooler ones that sunk in Greenland, underneath.

I do so wonder what that must be like as to wave formation in that region of the Atlantic having two currents running opposite directions.

Hmm - heh- watch it be a high 'rogue' wave region.

I once had a book 'International Year of the Quiet Sun' from Pushin Publishers in Moscow, I think it was 1965. It showed this map of the strongest geomagnetism of the Earth, it was this very region (not related I'm sure) where it was highest. That always got me wondering why... It is just south of the Bermuda Triangle, I used to wonder if by chance, maybe electromagnetic interference from this region distorted readings on sensors etc.

Either way- that's damned neat to have them crisscross if you ask me..

If the current doesn't sink as it should at Greenland which has been observed in the last 10 years? Especially last year? I suppose those two current will possibly mix and I'd think this might be a candidate spot for a breakdown in the conveyor belt.

What COULD happen? I'd think is instead of the deeper colder water continuing south, it might meet up at that crisscross - mix with it - and head right back up the US East Coast, creating a very tight smaller conveyor belt (note I dropped the word global there).

[WisdomTeet]

Why isn't there this type of current in the Pacific?

[ananiasacts]

@djxatlanta, Thanks. It's a nice resource. They should put more of that stuff on YT.

[Kostly]

@ananiasacts All you need to know is that oil is going to be a wrench in the gears. It's VERY simple.

[kangphil]

None of the circulation is 'visible', and is slower at depth because of friction with the ocean floor. Remember it takes any one water molecule ~1, 000 years to go through the entire Thermohaline Circulation.

[ananiasacts]

It would be better if the arrows were colored to reflect their temperature and sized to reflect their salinity levels. Just seeing the paths doesn't convey much information.

[RosaMorales-xwpo]

sooo this video has no audio or is it me??

[keke]

amazing animation of the underwater suface

[Thepoliticman]

@88blockNS Not at all... lol, its far to big and its not that fast... in finding nemo it was a small current going at a super high speed. I might be wrong and that current in finding nemo WAS the current.... but hmmm

[kangphil]

Not entirely, there are many other variables than can manipulate the climate. Though it does explain in large part the long periods of stability in the global climate system.

[brotherskids]

so warn gulf water is bounced back as cold artic water

[wikieditspam]

I've heard that if a significant amount of arctic ice melts or drifts south into the North Atlantic it could disrupt the current that supplies the right amount of warm water to the American north east and the coast of Europe giving them a temporary but disastrous cooling down. Also disruption of this current supposedly will create more frequent and more devastating storms moving further north with more power ever observed.

[TheSdzfr]

How were these systems at the time of Pangea?
Can I see it in some simulator or something?
What if I imagine a parallel Earth with an extra Plate Tectonic, can I see these currents function in that imaginary planet somewhere?
Consider this in a parallel universe, there's an extra tectonic plate with a small Zealandia sized continent, which at the time of Pangea was between Africa and Arabia. As it separated at the time of the great dying, this extra continent moved Eastwards at a great Geological speed.
Arabia comes to the current position, sandwiched between Africa and Eurasia, where this imaginary continent once was.
At the time India collides with Central Asia, this Continent which was once sandwiched between Africa and Arabico-Eurasia, itself Collides with Malaya and East Asia in it's north and Australia in it's south.
Thus at the time of Himalayas creation, another mountain range arises in our Universe's Phillipines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cuba, etc. Basically the Sunda Plate. Thus, these nations aren't seaside locations like our universe, but Tropical Montagne and Landlocked regions.
In this case how would the Gulf Stream work? Will it stop or get intense?

[SC-ybux]

Can anyone please tell me what the difference between scientific models are?

[shorroll]

Will it work with a bunch of oil?
Looks like that somthing we need

[lexluthor]

When it zoomed to the deep north Atlantic i was baffled at how inaccurate NASA made the depth of the ocean look. Looked 1000miles deep.

[Kostly]

@djxatlanta YEs and it's about to change in a very abrupt way.