GEOS 212-1 Homework #4 NAME ___________________________ STUDY GROUP LEADER ____________________________ Currents in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans This homework deals with the patterns and rates of surface currents in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. To do this exercise you will need to refer to your World Map as well as maps of surface currents sea-surface temperature salinity wind belts Make sure that you turn in only your own work on this exercise! Pacific Ocean currents First, we will trace currents in the Pacific Ocean by following the travels of a ship-load of 29,000 rubber duckies that spilled into the North Pacific in 1992 (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/06/0619_seacargo.html ). The spill occurred right above the Chinook Trough (located at 42°N, 180°E, marked with an X), within the North Pacific Current, and the duckies have since been carried all around the North Pacific by the surface currents. On the accompanying map, please draw the path a ducky would take from the spill site, past Hawaii, to Japan, assuming that it followed the simplest path along the surface currents. How long would it take a ducky to make this voyage? To do this calculation, assume that the average rate of travel is 50 km/day, measure the distance that the ducky traveled on your full-size World Map (in cm), and then convert the distance to kilometers (multiply by 389 km/cm). This gives you the distance in km, and you know the rate, so solve for time (in days). Show all of your work. What are the names of the main currents that the ducky will travel along? Please show the southernmost position that you would expect a ducky along the west coast of North America -- show this with a big X. Would you expect many duckies to occur along the shores of Australia or South America? Why or why not?