Thermohaline Circulation

The thermohaline circulation is the density-driven, global overturning of the ocean, set by temperature and salinity gradients rather than by wind. Cold, salty surface water sinks at high-latitude formation sites (the North Atlantic and around Antarctica), spreads through the abyss, and returns via upwelling and wind-driven flow. Coupled with the wind-driven cells it forms the conveyor that redistributes heat, carbon, and oxygen on centennial to millennial timescales.