Question

The waters off the coast of France are cold. Which of the following is the best explanation? The gyre rotates counterclockwise, bringing cold water from the south. The gyre rotates counterclockwise, removing warm water from the south. The gyre rotates clockwise, bringing cold water from the north. The gyre rotates clockwise, removing warm water from the north.

Answer 1

Answer: The correct answer is C: The gyre rotates clockwise, bringing cold water from the north. I took the Earth Science 2.07 Ocean Currents Quiz and got 100% with answer C!

Explanation: In the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis effect causes clockwise motion to the right.

This pattern is called a gyre, which consists of the Gulf Stream, North Atlantic Current, Canary Current, and North Equatorial Current.

Gyres in the Northern Hemisphere rotate clockwise, while those in the Southern Hemisphere rotate counterclockwise.

Answer 2

The waters off the coast of France are cold because the gyre rotates clockwise, bringing cold water from the north

Step-by-step explanation:

In general, the oceanic gyres located in the northern hemisphere circulate in a clockwise direction to form the huge circular currents on the ocean surface.

This clockwise rotation is because of the Coriolis Effect which deflects the global wind to the right side of the northern hemisphere along with the surface ocean winds causing the clockwise rotational movements.

The North Atlantic Ocean gyre rotates the wind clockwise, brings in the cold air from the north and rotates along western Europe.

Further, the Beaufort gyre also rotates clockwise and rotates the cold Siberian and Arctic waters from the north to the Atlantic Ocean. Thus the waters of the western coastal regions of France get cooler.