How would the weather be affected by a constant miles-wide maelstrom?

There is a giant equatorial maelstrom surrounded by three landmasses sucking warm water down to the bottom of the ocean. Somehow, magically or some weird physical process I haven't fixed on yet, this warm water re-enters the surface polar ocean system in a giant geyser

This Earth-like planet has a similar gravity, atmosphere (less oxygen), etc. but differs in that it has 0 axial tilt and is further from it's sun (red giant) but still close enough to have liquid water covering 65% of the surface.

I've read several posts here and elsewhere describing the banding properties of no tilt and have a fair concept of what climate would be like, but there's another variable that I have been considering that I have not been able to work out properly.

My idea is that in this world there is a maelstrom, a few miles wide, that has not stopped in thousands of years, only slowing or speeding up. Imagine the black hole eddies that have been seen in the Atlantic but on a much larger scale and that does not wander across the ocean but stays in one particular location. On top of this, through some magical or weird physical process this warm water is transferred to the other side of the globe and exits into a cold polar ocean.

Now if this was possible, and was in a made-up world filled with magic and with no axial tilt. How would this giant warm-water maelstrom and geyser into a cold water ocean effect the oceanic currents and weather?

Psychonautilus

Posted 2017-03-17T16:28:27.970

Reputation: 53

Depends. Where is the storm located. What are it's artificial traits compared to the natural local? Is it colder then the surrounding area? Warmer? Same temperature? Is it Over a landmass? A Pole? The Sea? The equator? – PCSgtL – 2017-03-17T16:37:19.253

The maelstrom (whirlpool) would be located somewhere along the equatorial band and surrounded by three large landmasses that are broken by three channels. the geyser would be over open ocean with no visible landmasses but i would like an opinion on the difference of that warm ocean water being shot into the sky in a polar region that's colder than earths or if it was also along the equator.. let your mind go wild. – Psychonautilus – 2017-03-17T16:46:52.763

Added a paint drawing (sorry for quality) to show about what the landmasses would look like surrounding the maelstrom – Psychonautilus – 2017-03-17T16:51:26.063

I am fairly sure the momentum of all that rotating water (if your drawing depicts the entire planet) would end up in tilting the axis of the planet – L.Dutch - Reinstate Monica – 2017-03-17T17:39:27.920

Your biggest problem is the massive amount of erosion that this will create. It can't have been going on for long becasue it will carve whatever opening it plunges into wider quite quickly, it will also smooth those shorelines. – John – 2017-03-17T18:11:26.363

assuming that some force of nature such as magic kept the planet in line, either from divine interference or just as a natural phenomenon. and that's not to scale, (i cant draw with paint), but just the landmasses surrounding the maelstrom.. about the size of say north america. – Psychonautilus – 2017-03-17T18:15:11.310

this is a stable event, so there's a force at play, just as with the tilt, that keeps this as a fixture. – Psychonautilus – 2017-03-17T18:17:40.487

Answers

You need a continuous, strong wind. The passate wind is okay for that.

You have to focus it with some mountains. Our Earth doesn't have a mountain system for that, but it would be possible. Around so:

Gray Sheep

Posted 2017-03-17T16:28:27.970

Reputation: 2 440

so on the drawing i put up, mountain ranges along the coastlines of the eastern landmasses, essentially. – Psychonautilus – 2017-03-17T19:25:06.843

@Psychonautilus, welcome. It's normally a good idea to leave your question open for around 24 hours to give people from all the various timezones a chance to look at it and attempt an answer before accepting what you think is the best answer. Some people don't look at questions that are marked with an accepted answer. Don't worry, we all make the same mistake when we first join. You can also always change your accepted answer if you find a better answer but personally I have never figured out what the person you take the accepted green tick from feels like afterwards. – EveryBitHelps – 2017-03-17T19:46:46.267

A standard maelstrom is formed by a mixture of tides, currents and underwater terrain.

Your "maelstrom" is not that and is essentially a much larger version of the vortex you would see in a sink or bathtub when you pull the plug. You basically have a humongous drain in your ocean. All currents in your oceans will eventually lead there.

The 3 channels between your landmasses will all be flowing inward, and depending on the flow rate out the "drain" the channel currents may be strong enough to prevent outgoing traffic.

Your geyser, dumping a massive amount of equatorial water into a polar region, will make the land near there much warmer than they would otherwise be (similar to, but more extreme than the Gulf Stream's effect on England).

Michael Richardson

Posted 2017-03-17T16:28:27.970

Reputation: 9 315

1The term you are looking for is vortex. – John – 2017-03-17T18:07:53.610

@John Thanks! I had looked up maelstrom, whirlpool and vortex. The definition for vortex I found seemed to be more applicable to airflow than water, but I have now found it directly related to drain flow. – Michael Richardson – 2017-03-17T18:37:43.817

so potentially jungle climates at the pole that it's coming out at. which would lead to seem really funky air currents. – Psychonautilus – 2017-03-17T19:30:35.913