Ocean and Weather

Ocean and Weather 2022 Name: ____________________________________________________________ Period: _____ Date: ______________ Lorelai Short Essential Question: How does the ocean affect climate and weather on land? On the left is the Illustration of major ocean currents throughout the globe. Ocean currents act as conveyer belts of warm and cold water, sending heat toward the polar regions and helping tropical areas cool off. The world’s ocean is crucial to heating the planet. While land areas and the atmosphere absorb some sunlight, the majority of the sun’s radiation is absorbed by the ocean. Particularly in the tropical waters around the equator, the ocean acts as a massive, heat-retaining solar panel. Earth’s atmosphere also plays a part in this process, helping to retain heat that would otherwise quickly radiate into space after sunset. The ocean doesn't just store solar radiation; it also helps to distribute heat around the globe through the global ocean current. When water molecules are heated, they exchange freely with the air in a process called evaporation, this results to the water cycle. Ocean water is constantly evaporating, increasing the temperature and humidity of the surrounding air to form rain and storms that are then carried by trade winds, often vast distances. In fact, almost all rain that falls on land starts off in the ocean. The tropics are particularly rainy because of high heat absorption, and thus ocean evaporation, is highest in this area. Outside of Earth’s equatorial areas, weather patterns are driven largely by ocean currents. Ocean Currents are movements of ocean water in a continuous flow, created largely by surface winds but also partly by temperature and salinity gradients, Earth’s rotation, and tides (rising water due the gravitational effects of the sun and moon). Major current systems typically flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere, in circular patterns that often trace the coastlines. Ocean currents act much like a conveyer belt, transporting warm water and precipitation from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the tropics. Thus, ocean currents regulate global climate, helping to counteract the uneven distribution of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface. Without currents, regional temperatures would be more extreme—super hot at the equator and frigid toward the poles—and much less of Earth’s land would be habitable. Four Factors that Influence Weather 1. The Water Cycle: As the sun warms the surface of the Earth, water rises in the form of water vapor from oceans, lakes, rivers, plants, the ground, and other sources. This process is called evaporation. Water vapor condenses into clouds and eventually returns to Earth in the form of precipitation, and the cycle continues. 2. Air Masses: Air masses take on the characteristics of the area below them. Air masses that form over water are humid or wet, air masses that form over land are dry, air masses the form near the equator are warm, and air masses that form near poles are cold. Warm air masses carry more water vapor that cold air masses. 3. Weather Fronts: The area where air masses meet is called the weather front. The four types of weather fronts are cold front, warm front, stationary front, and stationary front. Weather changes happens where the air masses meet. Cold fronts are the fastest and they usually result to cumulonimbus clouds and thunderstorm, even tornadoes! Stationary fronts are almost not moving and they result to persistent weather. Warm fronts result to light precipitation. 4. Jet Stream: A jet stream is the name given to the area of air above where two air masses of different temperature converge e.g. a cold front meeting a warm front. The greater the temperature difference between the air masses, the greater the air pressure difference, and the faster the wind blows in the jet stream. This river of air has wind speeds which often exceed 100 mph, and sometimes over 200 mph. Jet streams more commonly form in the winter, when there is a greater difference between the temperature of the cold continental air masses and warm oceanic air masses. This meandering current of high-speed wind, a jet stream is usually found around five to ten miles above Earth’s surface. Jet Streams generally flows from west to east. Clarifying Questions: It describes ocean currents, which transport 1. Explain the meaning of “conveyor belt” in the second sentence. Think! _________________________________ warm and cold water around the globe, analogous to how a conveyor belt transports items from one place to another. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ocean water evaporates, taking heat from the surface and transferring it into the atmosphere. 2. How do the oceans cool the tropical areas? Warm ________________________________________________________ As the moist air rises, it cools and condenses, forming clouds and eventually leading to precipitation, which further cools the surrounding air and land ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Why are the world oceans crucial to heating and warming the planet? ___________________________________ They absorb and store the majority of the sun's radiation ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Why do the tropical waters absorb more heat than the polar waters? Think! _____________________________ Tropical waters absorb more heat than polar waters due to their location and exposure to direct sunlight ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Besides oceans, the atmosphere also retains heat on 5. Aside from the oceans, what else retains the heat on Earth? _________________________________________ Earth through processes like the greenhouse effect, where certain gases trap heat from the sun and prevent it from escaping into space ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. What do you think will happen on Earth’s temperature if we do not have the oceans? Clue! The beach sand is Without oceans, Earth's temperature would be much more extreme. Land surfaces would very hot on a sunny day but the wind is cool. ______________________________________________________ heat up and cool down rapidly without the moderating influence of oceans, leading to more extreme temperature fluctuations ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Oceans distribute heat around the globe through ocean currents, which transport 7. How do the oceans distribute heat around the globe? ______________________________________________ warm water from the equator towards the poles and cold water from the poles towards the equator, helping to regulate temperatures and climate ___________________________________________________________________________________________ They spread out and become less dense 8. What happens to water molecules when they are heated? ____________________________________________ condensation 9. Water that rises into the air turns into clouds through the process of ___________________________________ prevailing 10. Rain storms are usually carried by __________________________ winds. Tropical areas receive more rain due to the convergence of warm, moist air 11. Why do tropical areas receive more rain? _________________________________________________________ masses near the equator ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Ocean currents are continuous movements of seawater generated by various forces 12. What are ocean currents? ______________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Factors creating ocean currents include wind patterns, temperature 13. What are the factors that create ocean currents? ___________________________________________________ gradients, the Earth's rotation, variations in water density, and ocean basin shapes ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Tides are the rising and falling of sea levels caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. 14. What are tides? ______________________________________________________________________________ Ocean currents flow clockwise 15. What is the direction of the ocean current in the northern hemisphere? _________________________________ Ocean currents flow counterclockwise 16. What is the direction of the ocean current in the southern hemisphere? _________________________________ Ocean currents regulate the global climate by redistributing 17. How do the ocean currents regulate the global climate? ______________________________________________ heat and influencing weather patterns ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ocean currents, regional temperatures would be more extreme, 18. What will happen if there are no ocean currents? Without ___________________________________________________ making much less of Earth's land habitable ___________________________________________________________________________________________ The four factors influencing weather are the water cycle, 19. What are the four factors that influence the weather? _______________________________________________ air masses, weather fronts, and jet streams ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 20. Matching type: C _______ Water cycle a. cold front, warm front, occluded front, stationary front B _______ Jet Stream b. high speed win that flow from west to east A _______ Weather fronts c. evaporation, condensation, precipitation D _______ Air masses d. they take on the characteristics of the area below them E _______ Cold front e. cumulonimbus clouds, thunderstorms, even tornadoes! F _______ Dry air mass f. air mass the formed over land G _______ Polar/cold air mass g. air mass the formed over Canada