When you look at the seas and oceans on the map you might think that they just flow into each other.
It seems like there’s only one big ocean, and people
just gave different names to its parts. Well, you’ll be amazed at how vivid the borders between them are!
just gave different names to its parts. Well, you’ll be amazed at how vivid the borders between them are!
The border between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans is like a line between 2 worlds. It looks as if the two oceans meet at an invisible wall which does not let them flow into each other and mix their waters.
Why on Earth does it happen?
We know for sure there is no invisible wall inside, and water is water. So what could interfere with its mixing?
Water Are Different Just like Humans
The Atlantic and the pacific oceans have different particles like salinity and acidity; they include different density and chemical make ups.
The reason for this strange phenomenon was due to the fact there are different water density, temperature and salinity of the glacial melt water and off shore waters of Gulf of Alaska, making it difficult to mix.
What you are looking at is the freshwater discharge of a major river into an ocean. The darker water on the right is the higher density salt water.
T
he lighter water on the left is fresh water filled with sediment from the river. You see a contrast because of the sediment as well as the density differences allows the fresh water to remain on top of the salty water for some time before eventually mixing much further out to sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment