Which among the following does NOT play a direct role in causing surface ocean currents?
Amount of rainfall over the ocean
Surface ocean currents are the movement of the top layer of sea water. They are driven mainly by the planetary winds blowing over the sea surface, which drag the water along by friction.
The Earth's rotation deflects these moving waters through the Coriolis force (to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere), shaping the large circular gyres. Differences in the temperature of the ocean surface create differences in density, which also make water move from one region to another.
The amount of rainfall over the ocean only slightly changes the salinity of the surface water locally; it does not directly set the water moving in a current. So, among the given factors, rainfall plays no direct role in causing surface ocean currents.
Hence, the answer is amount of rainfall over the ocean.
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