MAJOR OCEAN CURRENTS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN

 MAJOR OCEAN CURRENTS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN  

Warm currents of the pacific ocean	Cold currents of the pacific ocean
1.      North equatorial current – flows weswards from the western coast of Mexico to the Philippines.	(I)                 Oyashio (kurile) current – Bering current or Alaskan current and Okhotsk current meet to form oyashio current
2.      South equatorial current – flows westwards in the southern pacific ocean and bifurcates into northern and southern branches near New Guinea.	(II)              Californian current – flows along the western coast of USA and finally merges with north equatorial current (warm) to complete the circulation.
3.      Counter equatorial current – flows between north and south equatorial current in the opposite direction.	(III)            West wind drift – flows west to east in the zone of 40˚ - 50˚s latitude under the influence of westerlies.
4.      Kuroshio or Japan Current – flows from Taiwan to Bering Strait.	(IV)           Peruvian (Humboldt) current – flows northwards along the western coast of south America is actually the continuation of West Wind Drift.
5.      East Australian current – southern branch of south equatorial current flows along the eastern coast of Queensland (Australia).

 Major ocean currents of the Indian Ocean

Warm currents of the Indian Ocean

1.      Indian equatorial current: flows westwards in the south Indian Ocean, bifurcates at Madagascar and flows as Mozambique and arugulas current in the southern direction.

2.      South west monsoon current: flows along the coasts of India in easterly direction.

3.      North East monsoon current: flows along the eastern coasts of India during winter.