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• Equatorial Current
  Equatorial Current

  noun

  North Equatorial Current.
• equatorial current
  equatorial current

  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).

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

See Examples For:

Equatorial Current equatorial current

It consists of seaweed assembled in that very mild sort of eddy which is developed by the Gulf Stream on the one side and by the Equatorial Current on the other.

From Time Magazine Archive

Driven into the South Equatorial Current, one of the ships must have been swept across the Atlantic to the coast of Brazil.

From Time Magazine Archive

Temperatures at one of the "Fram's" and one of the "Challenger's" Stations, to the South of the South Equatorial Current 433 14.

From The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the "Fram," 1910-1912 — Volume 2 by Chater, Arthur G.

Temperatures at one of the "Fram's" and one of the "Challenger's" Stations, to the South of the South Equatorial Current 14.

From The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the "Fram," 1910-12 — Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Chater, Arthur G.

The Equatorial Current ascends, rushes north to a point about latitude 30 degrees, where, being sufficiently cooled, it swoops down, and continues its Northward rush along the earth.

From The Ocean and its Wonders by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

On this course we encounter the equatorial current, which runs northward at a rate of two miles in an hour, and at some points reaches a much higher rate of speed.

From Equatorial America Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of South America by Ballou, Maturin Murray

Conversely, the southerly route by the Azores is best for outward-bound ships; as it escapes most of the Gulf Stream, and traverses the still Sargasso Sea, and even the extremity of the westward equatorial current.

From At Last by Kingsley, Charles

These cause a westward flow, known as the equatorial current.

From A Catechism of Familiar Things; Their History, and the Events Which Led to Their Discovery. With a Short Explanation of Some of the Principal Natural Phenomena. For the Use of Schools and Families. Enlarged and Revised Edition. by Anonymous

Southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, for instance, although they correspond in latitude to Labrador, are made habitable and an excellent sheep-grazing country by the southerly equatorial current along the continental coast.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 5 "Arculf" to "Armour, Philip" by Various

Daussy, his barometric expriments, 208; observations on the velocity of the equatorial current, 307.

From COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Humboldt, Alexander von