Major Ocean Currents of the World
Ocean surface currents are affected by the rotation of the earth through the Coriolus
effect.
Wind patterns guide the waters of the oceans and tend to form something called ocean
gyres, which are great circling flows of water deep within the ocean.
Ocean gyres in both hemispheres flow westward toward the Equator. These currents
are called the North and South Equatorial Currents.
● Eventually, they run into land and the ocean water piles up slightly. In each ocean
basin there is a narrow current that flows eastward along the equator between the
two main Equatorial currents called the Equatorial Counter Currents because they
return surface waters to the east side of the ocean basins.
