Oceanography

Cocos Island in influenced by a complex system of ocean currents. From the east it is influenced by the North Ecuatorial Counter Current, which comes from the western and central Pacific and lightly transports warm tropical waters north of the equator on a journey of more than 5,000 km. Periodically, Cocos Island is affected by a phenomena of oceanic and atmospheric interaction known as El Niño.

Other lesser currents that affect the island are: the Costa Rican Coastal Current that circulates in a northeastern and western direction off the coast of Central America; the anti-cyclonic disturbance that takes water from the southern Colombian coastal current; and water from the Gulf of Panama that originates in the north and flows in a westerly direction, which affects the island, especially during the months of December through April.

Finally, the waters of the Dome of Costa Rica have an influence on the island, which is an oceanic phenomena that originates because of thermal differences in the ocean (thermocline) that occur off the north Pacific coast of Costa Rica, which is characterized by an uneveness of more than 10 meters on the ocean's surface. The Dome of Costa Rica, with a diameter of between 150 and 300 km. as it drifts towards the south, influences Cocos Island.

Location and Size | Geology and Morphology | Oceanography | Climate | Hidrology