Question

Name the ocean currents and describe what happens when the hot and cold currents meet.

Answer 1

Hint:The large masses of surface water that circulate in regular patterns around the oceans are called Ocean Currents, e.g., the North Atlantic Drift, Labrador Current, Benguela Current, etc. Based on temperature, Ocean currents can broadly be divided into two categories—the warm and the cold currents.

Complete answer:
The ocean currents can also be divided into two categories on the basis of their depth:
The Surface Currents: Ten percent of water in the ocean is constituted by these currents.They lie at the upper four hundred metre of the ocean.
The Deep Water Currents:Ninety percent of water in the ocean is constituted by these currents.These waters move around the ocean basins due to variations in the density and gravity. At high latitudes deep waters sink into the deep ocean basins ,where the temperatures are cold enough to make the density increase.
The Cold Currents: These currents have a lower surface temperature and bring cold water into warm water areas. These currents which flow in the high latitudes from the Polar regions towards the low latitudes in the warm Equator region are called cold currents.The cold and hot current meet a heavy fog and this creates rich fish ground.The Oyashio and Kuroshio currents and gulf stream and labrador current produce such conditions.

Note:The Warm Currents: The currents which flow from the low latitudes in Tropical Zones towards the high latitudes in the Temperate and Subpolar Zones are called warm currents. Warm water is brought into cold water areas by them.