Equatorial Counter Current
Topic: Movements of Ocean Water: Waves, Tides and Currents · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 13 "Movements of Ocean Water"
Meaning
The Equatorial Counter Current is a warm ocean current that flows east, against the main flow near the equator. It runs between the North Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Current, both of which flow west. It lies near the doldrums, the calm belt near the equator where the trade winds are weak. The trade winds pile up water on the western sides of the oceans, and this current carries some of that water back east.
Example
In the Pacific Ocean, the Equatorial Counter Current flows east just north of the equator. It carries water from the warm western Pacific back towards Central and South America, between the two westward equatorial currents.
Don't confuse with
- Cromwell Current (Equatorial Undercurrent): it also flows east in the Pacific, but it runs below the surface, under the South Equatorial Current. The Equatorial Counter Current is a surface current.
- North and South Equatorial Currents: these flow west with the trade winds. The counter current flows the opposite way, east.