Instructions: Navigate to the following NOAA website and watch the Ocean Current Lesson #8 video: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/learning/player/lesson08.html

Please watch both video segments under the Ocean Currents module. You should be taking notes as you’re watching the video. Upon completion of the video, answer the questions provided on the “Ocean Currents” worksheet below. If you need to go back throughout the video to locate correct answers, you are free to do so.

Ocean Current Internet Lesson Questions

Instructions: Watch the internet lesson on currents and answer the following questions. All answers will be addressed on the video. You may pause and rewind in order to ensure that answers are what you believe to be correct.

1) What is a current?

2) What three (3) things cause currents?

3) What are the two distinct current systems?

4) What is the dominant pattern of surface circulation?

5) What is the most important cause of surface currents?

6) Where are the two places where the ocean surface is highest?

7) What causes the Coriolis Effect?

8) What direction is the Coriolis Deflection in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?

9) What four (4) factors determine the location, size, shape, and direction of a gyre?

10) What current can trigger an El Nino?