Ocean gyre

North Atlantic
gyre

Indian
Ocean
gyre

North
Pacific
gyre

South
Pacific
gyre

South Atlantic
gyre

World map of the five major ocean gyres

In oceanography, a gyre (/ˈdʒaɪər/) is any large system of circulating ocean surface currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determine the circulatory patterns from the wind stress curl (torque).^[1]

Gyre can refer to any type of vortex in an atmosphere or a sea,^[2] even one that is human-created, but it is most commonly used in terrestrial oceanography to refer to the major ocean systems.

^ Heinemann, B. and the Open University (1998) Ocean circulation, Oxford University Press: Page 98
^ Lissauer, Jack J.; de Pater, Imke (2019). Fundamental Planetary Sciences : physics, chemistry, and habitability. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108411981.

[1] Heinemann, B. and the Open University (1998) Ocean circulation, Oxford University Press: Page 98

[lissauer2019-2] Lissauer, Jack J.; de Pater, Imke (2019). Fundamental Planetary Sciences : physics, chemistry, and habitability. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108411981.

[1]

[2]