Lecture 9- Ocean Circulation Flashcards
wind belts
alternate direction
primary wind belts
- polar easterlies
- westerlies
- northeast/ southeast trades
wind belt (0-30)
northeast trades
wind belt (30-60)
westerlies
wind belt (60-90)
polar easterlies
wind belt (0-30 S)
southeast trades
wind belt (30S - 60S)
westerlies
wind belt (60S - 90)
polar easterlies
ocean surface temperature
- warmest water along the equator in the western ocean basins
- coldest water along the pole
- tongue of cold water in the eastern equatorial region
Atlantic ocean temperature at depth
- warm thin surface layer
- cold thick deep layer
- thermocline separates warm and cold layers
ocean surface salinity
- saltiest water in the subtropics
- Atlantic considerably more salty than the other oceans
- North Pacific the freshest of all regions
Atlantic Ocean salinity at depth
- high salinity in surface ocean
- deep ocean salinity more uniform
rotation of subtropical gyres
- clockwise in the northern hemisphere
- counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere
subpolar gyres
- rotate counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere
- absent in the southern hemisphere
Antarctic circumpolar current
moves eastward around the Antarctic continent
Why is the Coriolis force needed?
needed to account for the acceleration of the reference coordinate system (Newton’s law F=ma doesn’t apply anymore)
material is warmed when
it absorbs radiant energy (ie. solar energy)
visible radiant energy from the sun
- short wavelength radiation
- passes through the atmosphere without being heated
Earth’s surface
- absorbs a lot of the sunlight energy so it becomes warm
- warm surface radiates infrared radiation (long) which is absorbed by the atmosphere
atmosphere is heated from
below
atmospheric convection and precipitation is strongest
along the equator
air column with high amounts of water vapor
weighs less (creates lower sea level pressure underneath it)
sea level pressure at Pole (90 degrees)
high SLP
SLP at 60 N/S
low SLP
SLP at 30 N/S
high SLP
SLP at equator
low SLP
