Currents and Waves
Just as the blood constantly circulates through your body, the waters of the world’s oceans don’t stay in one place. Every drop of water in the oceans circulates around the world. Winds on the oceans’ surfaces whip up waves and make currents. These currents swirl in giant whirlpools known as gyres.
- Easy Earth Science for Kids All about Currents and Waves – Image of a Surface Wave
- Kids Science Fun Facts on Currents and Waves – Image of the Cordoama Waves
- All about Currents and Waves Fun Geography Facts for Kids – Image of Wind Waves
Under the surface, deepwater currents also move water. Eventually, surface waves and currents meet with underwater currents. Here’s how: in the North Atlantic Ocean, the water at the surface freezes. Salt leaches into the water below. The salt and the cold cause warm surface water to become heavy and sink to the bottom. There it moves slowly. Finally, it reaches warmer waters where it rises to the surface again. This process can take hundreds of years.
Fun Facts about Currents and Waves for Kids
- Winds in the Northern Hemisphere drive the waters in a clockwise direction. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winds drive the waters in a counter-clockwise direction.
- The winds drive warm water from the tropics toward the poles. They drive cold water from the Arctic toward the equator.
- In a storm, waves sometimes move in opposite directions. When these waves collide, they can create rogue waves that rise 100 feet or more out of the sea, sinking ships in their path.
Currents and Waves Vocabulary
- Circulate: move in a circular path
- Gyre: giant whirlpool
- Leach: seep or strain
- Collide: crash
Learn More All about Currents and Waves
This is the best video we found for kids to learn all about currents and waves:
A video sharing details about the waves in the ocean.
Currents and Waves Q&A
Question: Is a tsunami the same thing as a rogue wave?
Answer: Tsunamis are caused by tectonic plate movement – either by earthquakes or volcanic activity. Rogue waves are caused by winds.
Enjoyed the Natural Science for Kids website all about Currents and Waves info? Take the FREE & fun quiz all about Currents and Waves and download FREE worksheet all about Currents and Waves for kids. For lengthy info click here.
Cite This Page
You may cut-and-paste the below MLA and APA citation examples:
MLA Style Citation
Declan, Tobin. " Waves and Currents Facts for Kids ." Easy Science for Kids, Jan 2021. Web. 26 Jan 2021. < https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-currents-and-waves/ >.
APA Style Citation
Tobin, Declan. (2021). Waves and Currents Facts for Kids. Easy Science for Kids. Retrieved from https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-currents-and-waves/
Search
We've recently added
- Microbiology Worksheet
- All About Microbiology
- Fingerprint Identification Experiment
- Forensic Science
- Stem Cells
- Stem Cell Worksheet
- Buffalo – Part of the Bovidae Family
- Buffalo Differences Worksheet
- Draw the Buffalo Worksheet
- Who invented it?
- Famous American Inventors (Top ten and their Inventions)
- Vaccines and Antibodies
Recent Posts in Oceans Rivers & Streams
Sponsored Links :
