Why is the sea water flowing?

The phenomenon of seawater flowing is ocean current.

According to the dominant factors of ocean current formation, ocean current can be divided into three types: wind current, compensation current current and density current.

Under the action of prevailing wind, surface seawater flows in a certain direction on a large scale, which is called airflow. Most of the ocean currents in the world belong to wind currents, and the wind is generated because of the horizontal pressure gradient force on the horizontal plane, which urges the atmosphere to flow from the high pressure area to the low pressure area.

Due to the different temperature and salinity of seawater in different sea areas, the density distribution of seawater is uneven, resulting in the flow of seawater, which is called density current.

The ocean current formed by the difference of wind force and density makes the sea level in the sea area where seawater flows out drop, and the seawater flow in the adjacent sea area supplements it. The current thus formed is called compensation current. There are two kinds of compensation current: horizontal and vertical. The vertical compensation current is divided into upwelling and downwelling. For example, there is an obvious upwelling in the waters near Peru.

Land shape and geostrophic deflection will also have a certain impact on the direction of ocean currents.