| A | B |
|---|
| gyres | major spirals of ocean-circling currents |
| eastern boundary currents | weak and broad boundary currents |
| western boundary currents | strong and narrow boundary current |
| Gulf Stream | western boundary current of the north atlantic gyre |
| Canary Current | eastern boundary current of the north Atlantic gyre |
| thermohaline circulation | currents driven by differences in the water’s density, which is controlled by temperature and salinity |
| global conveyor belt | global-scale system of currents |
| velocity | speed and direction |
| Eulerian measurements | current measurements taken from stationary instuments |
| Langangian measurements | drifter measurements |
| knot | one nautical mile per hour |
| Davis drifter | instrument designed to measure wind-driven surface currents |
| profiling float | devise used to To monitor ocean currents and ocean water characteristics far beneath the ocean surface |
| ADCP | measures ocean currents using the principle of “Doppler shift.” |
