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No A A Ocean Explorer Climate

The ocean plays a crucial role in regulating Earth's climate and weather patterns. It absorbs most of the sun's radiation, acting as a massive solar panel and storing heat. Ocean currents then distribute this heat globally, transporting warm water from the equator towards the poles. The ocean also releases absorbed heat into the atmosphere through evaporation, causing rain and storms that transport heat worldwide. These ocean circulation processes moderate global temperatures and make many regions habitable.

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46 views2 pages

No A A Ocean Explorer Climate

The ocean plays a crucial role in regulating Earth's climate and weather patterns. It absorbs most of the sun's radiation, acting as a massive solar panel and storing heat. Ocean currents then distribute this heat globally, transporting warm water from the equator towards the poles. The ocean also releases absorbed heat into the atmosphere through evaporation, causing rain and storms that transport heat worldwide. These ocean circulation processes moderate global temperatures and make many regions habitable.

Uploaded by

parfaitfosso15
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How does the ocean affect climate and weather on land? http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/climate.

html

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 a as 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.

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How does the ocean affect climate and weather on land? http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/climate.html

The ocean doesn't just store solar radiation; it also helps to distribute heat around the globe. When water molecules
are heated, they exchange freely with the air in a process called evaporation. 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 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. 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 (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, 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.

Multimedia Discovery Mission: The Water Cycle

Multimedia Discovery Mission: Ocean Currents

Investigating the Charleston Bump: Ocean Weather

Ocean Exploration Facts RSS Feed

Sign up for the Ocean Explorer E-mail Update List.

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