Match List I with List II and select the correct answer using the code given below the Lists: List I (Ocean Current) A. Kuroshio Current B. Agulhas Current C. East Wind Drift D. Antilles Current List II (Location) 1. Antarctic Ocean 2. Pacific Ocean 3. Atlantic Ocean 4. Indian Ocean Code:

Correct — D, A-2 B-4 C-1 D-3. Each current belongs to one ocean and the names give most of it away. The Kuroshio, the warm current running north-east past Japan and often called the Japan Current, is the western boundary current of the North Pacific, so A goes with 2. The Agulhas is the warm current sweeping down the east coast of southern Africa in the Indian Ocean, so B goes with 4. The East Wind Drift is the westward flow close to the Antarctic continent, driven by the polar easterlies inside the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, so C goes with 1. The Antilles Current flows north-west along the outer edge of the Antilles island arc in the Caribbean before joining the Gulf Stream, so D goes with 3.

• (a)A-3 B-4 C-1 D-2 — This puts the Kuroshio in the Atlantic and the Antilles Current in the Pacific, which reverses both. The Kuroshio flows past Japan and the Antilles Current past the West Indies.
• (b)A-3 B-1 C-4 D-2 — This assigns the Agulhas to the Antarctic Ocean and the East Wind Drift to the Indian Ocean. The Agulhas runs down the African coast in the Indian Ocean; the East Wind Drift is a polar current by definition.
• (c)A-2 B-1 C-4 D-3 — This gets the Kuroshio right but then swaps the Agulhas and the East Wind Drift, and sends the Antilles Current to the Atlantic while displacing the Agulhas. Only two of its four pairings survive.

Ocean currents are driven mainly by prevailing winds and organised by the Coriolis force into great gyres — clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern. On the western side of each ocean basin the return flow is narrow, fast and warm: the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Kuroshio in the North Pacific, the Agulhas in the Indian Ocean, the Brazil Current in the South Atlantic. Eastern boundary currents such as the Canary, California, Benguela and Peru currents are broad, slow and cold, and support rich fisheries through upwelling.

Two of the four can be placed without knowing anything about circulation. The Kuroshio is the Japan Current, and Japan is in the Pacific. The East Wind Drift carries the name of the polar easterlies and can only be Antarctic. Fixing those two alone reduces the four codes to one. The Antilles Current is the least familiar name here, and the memory hook is the Antilles themselves — the Greater and Lesser Antilles are the West Indian island chain in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

• The Kuroshio, also called the Japan Current, is the warm western boundary current of the North Pacific.
• The Agulhas Current is a warm, fast current flowing south along the east coast of southern Africa in the Indian Ocean.
• The East Wind Drift is the westward coastal flow around Antarctica, driven by the polar easterlies.
• The Antilles Current flows north-west along the outer Antilles in the Atlantic and merges into the Gulf Stream.
• Western boundary currents are warm, narrow and fast; eastern boundary currents are cold, broad and slow.

• Placing the Kuroshio in the Atlantic by confusing it with the Gulf Stream, its Atlantic counterpart.
• Assigning the Agulhas to the Atlantic because it runs past Africa.
• Missing that the East Wind Drift is named for the polar easterlies and so must be Antarctic.

A four-by-four matching item on current names. Two easy placements collapse the code list, which is the standard way through matching questions.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Kuroshio Current is also known as the

  • (a)Gulf Stream
  • (b)Japan Current
  • (c)Peru Current
  • (d)Canary Current

  Answer(b) Japan Current — the warm western boundary current of the North Pacific.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is a cold ocean current?

  • (a)Agulhas Current
  • (b)Brazil Current
  • (c)Benguela Current
  • (d)Kuroshio Current

  Answer(c) Benguela Current — a cold eastern boundary current off south-western Africa.