Table of Contents
What is the relationship between atmospheric circulation and circulation in the ocean?
Heat from the atmosphere is also absorbed by the ocean. This heat is then transported by ocean circulation patterns and re-radiated from the oceans influencing regional air temperatures. Atmospheric circulation transports heat and water above the Earth’s surface.
What is the relationship between ocean currents and air currents?
Ocean currents are great streams of water flowing both near the oceans surface and far below it. Prevailing winds (air currents) that blow over parts of the ocean push the water along, creating surface currents.
What is the relationship between wind and ocean currents?
The winds pull surface water with them, creating currents. As these currents flow westward, the Coriolis effect—a force that results from the rotation of the Earth—deflects them. The currents then bend to the right, heading north.
What causes the circulation of air in the atmosphere?
Air in the atmosphere moves around the world in a pattern called global atmospheric circulation. This pattern, called atmospheric circulation, is caused because the Sun heats the Earth more at the equator than at the poles. It’s also affected by the spin of the Earth. In the tropics, near the equator, warm air rises.
What is general circulation of the atmosphere?
atmospheric circulation, any atmospheric flow used to refer to the general circulation of the Earth and regional movements of air around areas of high and low pressure. On average, this circulation corresponds to large-scale wind systems arranged in several east–west belts that encircle the Earth.
How do interactions between ocean currents and the atmosphere impact climate?
Ocean currents act as conveyer belts of warm and cold water, sending heat toward the polar regions and helping tropical areas cool off, thus influencing both weather and climate. Land areas also absorb some sunlight, and the atmosphere helps to retain heat that would otherwise quickly radiate into space after sunset.
How does air move in general?
Air in the atmosphere moves around the world in a pattern called global atmospheric circulation. When the air cools, it drops back to the ground, flows back towards the Equator, and warm again. The, now, warmed air rises again, and the pattern repeats. This pattern, known as convection, happens on a global scale.
What is the general circulation of the surface currents in the North Atlantic ocean clockwise or counterclockwise?
gyres
Ocean surface currents are produced by global winds, the Coriolis effect and the shape of each ocean basin. The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans have a circular pattern of surface currents called gyres that circle clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern.
What factors cause and affect general circulation of the atmosphere?
The same factors that create circulation in the atmosphere – uneven heating from the sun and Earth’s rotation – create circulation in the oceans, and the atmosphere and ocean are constantly interacting and influencing each other.
What determines the pattern of general circulation of the atmosphere?
The general circulation of the atmosphere. Hot air rises in the tropics, moves north or south, descends and returns in the equatorial “Hadley cells”. Its path along the surface is bent into the trade winds by the Earth’s rotation (Coriolis Effect). Two other cells in each hemisphere work similarly.
What causes the general circulation of the atmosphere?