Long description

This chart shows a map of the world with major oceanic flows superimposed.

The horizontal axis is unlabelled but is marked in units of degrees longitude, from 60 degrees west to 120 degrees east, at intervals of 60 degrees, with tick marks every 20 degrees. The midpoint is at 120 degrees east corresponding approximately with the west coast of Australia.

The vertical axis is unlabelled but is marked in units of degrees latitude, from 60 degrees north to 60 degrees south. The only others latitudes labelled are 20 degrees north and south, and the Equator at zero degrees; all three of these are shown as lines of latitudes across the width of the map.

Labelled 'warm upper waters', one flow is shown rising in the North Pacific (approximately 30 degrees north, 180 degrees east), flowing south where it splits into two at the Equator. One branch flows south then east around the tip of South America, turning north into the South Atlantic to meet the other branch which flows west between Australia and South-East Asia then around the southern tip of Africa. From here it flows north, descending at approximately 70 degrees north, zero degrees east. Another rising flow meets this westward branch in the Indian Ocean.

This descent links to the flow labelled 'cold deep and bottom waters', flowing south in the Atlantic then turning east at approximately 50 degrees south, 30 degrees west. From here it splits into two. The main branch flows past Antarctica, turning north near New Zealand at approximately 50 degrees south, 180 degrees east, rising to meet the warm surface flow mentioned above. The smaller branch flows north-east into the Indian Ocean where it rises and completes the circulation.