EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -As these currents flow westward, the Coriolis effect-a force that results from the rotation of the Earth-deflects them. The currents then bend to the right, heading north. At about 30 degrees north latitude, a different set of winds, the westerlies, push the currents back to the east, producing a closed clockwise loop.

Detailed explanation-2: -Characteristically, equatorial-current systems consist of two westward-flowing currents approximately 600 miles (1, 000 km) wide (North and South equatorial currents) separated by an eastward-flowing countercurrent only 300 miles (480 km) wide.

Detailed explanation-3: -The trade winds create the equatorial currents that flow east to west along the equator; the North Equatorial and South Equatorial currents. If there were no continents, these surface currents would travel all the way around the Earth, parallel to the equator.

Detailed explanation-4: -Ocean currents flow from east to west near the equator. The Southern Equatorial Current is the prominent westward flowing current at the equator. The directionality of this current is primarily driven by the trade winds, which blow from the northeast or southeast towards the equator.

Detailed explanation-5: -As a result, ocean currents move clockwise (anticyclonically) in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise (cyclonically) in the Southern Hemisphere; Coriolis force deflects them about 45° from the wind direction, and at the Equator there would be no apparent horizontal deflection.