Knowra California Current California Current The California Current is a broad, cool surface current that flows southward along western North America. It forms the eastern branch of the North Pacific subtropical gyre.
North Pacific subtropical gyre : A large, clockwise circulation system in the North Pacific Ocean, driven by prevailing winds and Earth's rotation. The California Current forms the gyre's eastern, southbound limb.
California Current Large Marine Ecosystem : A marine ecological region extending along the west coast of North America, shaped by the California Current System. It defines the productive ecosystem associated with the current and its upwelling.
George Vancouver : A British naval officer and explorer who surveyed the Pacific coast of North America in the late eighteenth century. His surveys documented coastal waters where the southward current was later characterized.
Marine primary productivity : The production of organic matter by marine photosynthetic organisms, especially phytoplankton. Upwelling brings nutrients that support high productivity in the current's waters.
Peru Current : A cool, equatorward eastern-boundary current flowing along the western coast of South America. It shares the California Current's upwelling dynamics in the opposite Pacific hemisphere.
Coastal upwelling : The rise of cold, deep water near a coast as winds push surface water offshore. Northwesterly winds help draw nutrient-rich deep water to the surface along this current.
Pacific sardine : A schooling fish native to the North Pacific that supports major fisheries and undergoes large population fluctuations. Sardine abundance and distribution respond to changing conditions in the current system.
Alexander von Humboldt : A Prussian naturalist and geographer whose measurements linked climate, geography, and ocean conditions. His work helped establish the scientific study of cold currents along western continental coasts.
California Current food web : The network of feeding relationships among organisms inhabiting the California Current System. Its abundance depends on nutrient-driven plankton production and changing ocean conditions.
Canary Current : A cool, southward eastern-boundary current flowing along northwestern Africa in the North Atlantic. It is the Atlantic counterpart to the California Current's place in a subtropical gyre.
Show all 26