Immerwährende Bewegung

Immerwährende Bewegung

Meeresströmungen zwischen Sonne und Erde
Susanna Kümmell
Jahrbuch für Goetheanismus 2011, 2011, P.151-186 | DOI: 10.18756/jfg.2011.151
Earth science | Language: German | €6
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Abstract:

Continuous movement - ocean currents between sun and earth

Ocean currents develop in the energy fields between sun and earth‚ between the heat that comes from the sun and the salt that comes from the earth. They serve to balance out the heat of the climatic zones and transport gases and nutrients. The biggest ocean current, the circumpolar current which connects the three big oceans, flows round the Antarctic. ln the Circumpolar Ocean, not only horizontal but also vertical flows of the ocean currents are particularly strong. Through them an increased gas exchange takes place between the water masses and the atmosphere. The Atlantic is distinguished by its own particular dynamics in that two of its surface currents, the Gulf Stream and the Benguela Current, are among the fastest ocean currents in the world. The Gulf Stream descends in the great North Atlantic downdraft. After that it flows back as the North Atlantic Deep Water to the South Atlantic where part disgorges into the Circumpolar Current and another rises to the surface again in the Weddell Sea. Here this relatively warm Deep Water is connected with the formation of polynyas‚ great ice holes in the winter pack ice. Polynyas involve either upwelling or downdraft of warm water, or both take place simultaneously. In the polynya, the densest water in the world, the Antarctic Groundwater, is formed and extends to the ocean floors of all the worlds oceans. In comparison with the Atlantic, slow upwelling processes predominate in the Indian Ocean. There, it leads to a great abundance of intermediatc water (800-1500) m deep). This intermediate water is very important in the balancing flows with the Atlantic. The ocean currents distribute salt and nutrients. The salts originate from rivers which are constantly transporting‚ small quantities of salt into the sea. River water once again evaporates Ieaving the salt behind, thus increasing its concentration in the sea. However‚ over the course ot the Earth‘s history, the sea does not show any great changes in salt content. The salt is removed again from the sea, so that the salt content of the sea is balanced. The removal happens during limestone formation, through ion exchange in the deep sea clays, in the oceanic crust and in the 'black smokers', the hydrothermal vents at the spreading centres in the ocean floor. In the 'black smokers'. rocks take up marine salts and release heavy metal ions. The marine salts embedded in rocks drift with the tectonic plates towards the subduction zones of the eatth's crust where they are once again included in the Earth processes. The salt removal takes place predominantly in the Pacific. Through the processes involved in the circuit of salt, the ocean has the capacity to regulate its own chemical environment.

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