The North Madagascar Current is an
ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours ...
near
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. The
Madagascar current
The Madagascar current is an oceanic current in the west Indian Ocean.
The Madagascar current is split into two currents – the North Madagascar Current and the East Madagascar Current. The south easterly trade winds, the South Equatorial Curre ...
is split into two currents: the North Madagascar Current and the
East Madagascar Current
The East Madagascar Current is an oceanic flow feature near Madagascar. It flows southward from 20°S on the east side of Madagascar to the southern limit at Cape Saint Marie and subsequently feeds the Agulhas Current. Its flow is complicated by ...
(EMC). The North Madagascar Current (NMC) flows into the South Equatorial Current just north of Madagascar and is directed into the
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel (french: Canal du Mozambique, mg, Lakandranon'i Mozambika, pt, Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about lon ...
, this connects to the gyre's equatorial currents into the
Agulhas Current
The Agulhas Current () is the western boundary current of the southwest Indian Ocean. It flows south along the east coast of Africa from 27°S to 40°S. It is narrow, swift and strong. It is suggested that it is the largest western boundary curren ...
off the coast of Southeastern Africa.
[Lutjeharms, J. R. E., P. M. Wedepohl, and J. M. Meeuwis. "On the surface drift of the East Madagascar and Mozambique Currents." South African Journal of Science 96.3 (2000).]
See also
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Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours ...
*
Oceanic gyres
In oceanography, a gyre () is any large system of circulating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determine ...
*
Physical oceanography
References
Currents of the Indian Ocean
Geography of Madagascar
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