please help answer?

Question

How do the distribution of continents on earth and the Coriolis effect influence the surface ocean currents?

Answer 1

Hi. Take a look at the tip of South America and the point where it approaches Antarctica. The Coriolis effect tends to make current move in a direction influenced by the rotational speed of the Earth at different latitudes.

Answer 2

Well, if there were no continents, the currents would generally follow the varioius prevailing winds of the 3-cell model (caused by the Coriolis effect). But since the continents interfeer, there are all kinds of interesting currents, like the California current and the gulf stream, neither of which would not exist without current land configuration.

There is actually an interesting story with this changing the path of human evolution:

Man originated from earlier primates in eastern Africa. The big step in their evolution is the drying of eastern Africa about 4 million years ago. When the jungles died and separated, what would become man developed a locking knee joint. This enabled them to walk much farther (and endurance run) to cover more ground and obtain more resources, putting them at a distinct advantage to other primates. If you don't believe me, try walking around without locking your knee, it's hard and taxing.

This adaptation allowed for the development of many other things that we've come to love: our large heads and brains (when we were strictly bipedal, we free up our hands for projects, and this favors big brains), short rib cage (for flexibility), and big butts (something has to give you balance when you don't have a tail).

This climate change occurred when New Guinea moved in the way of a prominent current that brought warm, moist water to east Africa. Over time, these newly smart, adapted primates radiated out of Africa and to the rest of the world. See links below for more info.