Equatorial Current

American  

noun

1. North Equatorial Current.

2. South Equatorial Current.

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equatorial current Scientific  

1. Either of two oceanic currents (the North and South Equatorial Currents) flowing westward on either side of the equator. The equatorial currents are driven primarily by the easterly trade winds and are separated by a narrower countercurrent flowing eastward along the equator itself. Equatorial currents are relatively shallow, involving the epipelagic zone and part of the mesopelagic zone to depths of less than 500 m (1,640 ft). They are deflected by the continental landmasses in their path, usually splitting into northward and southward flows that feed other ocean currents and form part of the oceanic gyres (large-scale spiral current systems).

2. See more at gyre

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Example Sentences

Instead of the coastlines that define the boundaries of most bodies of water, the 600-mile-wide Sargasso is surrounded by several ocean currents—the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, the Canary Current, and the North Equatorial Current—that meet there.

From Slate

Ocean currents that flow north—including the South Equatorial Current—and the freshwater plume created by the Amazon River slowed the fish’s spread, but scientists predicted it was just a matter of time before it moved into Brazilian waters.

From Science Magazine

Dr. Estrada argued the South Equatorial Current could easily carry boats away from the Pacific Coast of Colombia.

From New York Times

Called “detached fish aggregating devices,” or FADS, the sometimes raft-like structures can get sucked into the North Equatorial Current and travel as far as the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Florida.

From Washington Times

Over the centuries, Mr. Ebbesmeyer said, thousands of pieces of man-made stuff, including Columbus’s ships, have followed the same watery circuit that links the East Coast and Europe: eastward on the Gulf Stream, south on the Portugal Current, west on the North Atlantic Equatorial Current, back up the East Coast on the Gulf Stream.

From New York Times