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Story: Ocean currents and tides

Great ocean conveyor belt

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Great ocean conveyor belt

As water near the poles cools it sinks, generating a current that slowly moves through the world’s oceans. Known as the great ocean conveyor belt, this movement continuously flushes the deep ocean basins with surface waters, taking oxygen down to the abysses and allowing life to exist there.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

Base map: NASA Visible Earth

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How to cite this page

Craig Stevens and Stephen Chiswell, Ocean currents and tides – The ocean’s role in climate change, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/5933/great-ocean-conveyor-belt (accessed 14 June 2026).

Story by Craig Stevens and Stephen Chiswell, published 2 March 2009.