Movement of Ocean Water

The waters of the Earth’s oceans are for the most part in liquid form. What happens when you take a half full bottle of water and shake it up? Do you see the bubbles swirling around the water bottle rapidly? While liquid water molecules do generally attract one another, forming a body of water, molecules within that body of water are free to move about, becoming thoroughly mixed up.

The waters of the Earth’s oceans can be mixed up by a number of forces, including wind, splashing against a rocky shore, swimmers, boats, etc. However, the items mentioned above create only a very minimal amount of mixing. Three important forces create a much more prevalent mixing of the ocean’s waters, causing the water to move about from one place to another, as though a giant were shaking them, in the same manner that you shake a water bottle.

These forces are waves, currents, and ocean tides.