90.7k views
2 votes
How does the Antarctic Circumpolar Current helps regulate the European climate.

User Adam Obeng
by
5.7k points

2 Answers

3 votes

Answer/Explanation

It extends from the sea surface to the bottom of the ocean, and encircles Antarctica. It is vital for Earth's health because it keeps Antarctica cool and frozen. ... The tightest geographical constriction through which the current flows is Drake Passage, where only 800 km separates South America from Antarctica.

User Ladookie
by
4.7k points
7 votes

Answer:

The answer to the question: How does the Antarctic Circumpolar Current helps regulate the European climate, would be: by regulating ocean temperatures, and keeping a balance between heat and cold, in the different ocean waters that come in contact with it. This helps to regulate temperatures, and therefore, it will affect the climate.

Step-by-step explanation:

The ACC, or better known as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, is literally a current of seawater that surround the landmass of Antartica, and interacts with the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans as it connects them. The movement of this current is always clockwise, from west to east, and it serves two purposes: to maintain the heated waters of more subtropical oceans away from the Antarctic region, thus permitting it to remain iced, and also to regulate the amount of salinization, and heat condensation in the different oceans it comes into contact with, thus ensuring temperature maintenance, including in continents like Europe. It is also important to remember that the winds will pick up ocean water and whatever comes with it, also affecting temperatures, and climate changes in the atmosphere.

User Vamsiampolu
by
4.9k points