What is the driver for global wind and ocean circulation?

The sun is the driving force of oceanic and atmospheric circulations. It heat the earth unevenly causing convection currents in the air and ocean.

What is the driver for global wind and ocean circulation quizlet?

Global climate patterns are driven by a combination of unequal heating of Earth by the Sun, atmospheric convection currents, the rotation of Earth and the Coriolis effect, Earth’s orbit around the Sun on a tilted axis, and ocean currents. The unequal heating of Earth is the driver of atmospheric convection currents.

What is the ultimate reason for the world’s surface ocean currents?

The ultimate reason for the world’s surface ocean currents is the sun. The heating of the earth by the sun has produced semi-permanent pressure centers near the surface.

What processes drive the ocean heat transport?

Using a series of sensitivity experiments, we show that this deep heat transport is primarily set by the strength and patterns of surface winds and only secondarily by diabatic processes at high latitudes in the North Atlantic. Abyssal mixing below 2000 m has hardly any impact on ocean heat transport.

What is its role in wind driven circulation?

Wind driven circulation describes the process in which winds moving along the surface of the ocean push the water in their direction and create currents near the surface. Because of the Coriolis Effect, water will also rotate in this direction.

What is the ultimate driver of Earth’s weather?

Energy from the Sun is the ultimate driver of climate on Earth. The solar energy received by Earth depends on how much the Sun emits and the distance between Earth and the Sun. Part of this sunlight is reflected directly back to space by the atmosphere, clouds, and land, ice and water surfaces.

What is the driving force of oceanic and atmospheric circulation quizlet?

Most of Earth’s water is stored in the ocean – a driving force for weather and climate. The Earth’s surface is warmed unevenly by the sun. Heat, a form of energy, helps drive ocean and atmospheric circulation. The ocean absorbs and stores more heat than the atmosphere.

What is the primary driver of ocean currents?

Wind is the primary force driving surface currents in the ocean. The sun heats the surface of the earth unevenly because of the shape and tilt of the earth. Warm air masses form where the sun’s radiation is most intense, which is at the equator.

How are global winds related to surface ocean currents What is ultimate source of energy that drives both these circulations?

Tsunami’s advance across the ocean at speeds between 300 and 600 miles p/h.

What is the wind driven use of ocean water?

define two circulation types: (1) wind-driven circulation forced by wind stress on the sea surface, inducing a momentum exchange, and (2) thermohaline circulation driven by the variations in water density imposed at the sea surface by exchange of ocean heat and water with the atmosphere, inducing a buoyancy exchange.

What forces are responsible for the movement of ocean water in current?

Ocean currents are the continuous, predictable, directional movement of seawater driven by gravity, wind (Coriolis Effect), and water density. Ocean water moves in two directions: horizontally and vertically.

What is the main driver of atmospheric circulation?

sunlight
The only driver of atmospheric circulation is sunlight. Under the constraints of gravity, Archimedes’ thrust and Coriolis’ force due to the Earth’s rotation, temperature differences between the equator and the poles cause air to circulate all around the Earth.

What is the wind-driven circulation?

As the name suggests, the wind-driven circulation is driven by the prevailing winds, primarily the easterlies in the tropics and the westerlies in the mid-latitudes. As the winds blow above the ocean surface, the upper ocean moves in a balance of frictional and Coriolis forces known as Ekman transport.

What drives surface currents in the ocean?

Download image (jpg, 38.6 KB). Surface currents in the ocean are driven by global wind systems that are fueled by energy from the sun. Patterns of surface currents are determined by wind direction, Coriolis forces from the Earth’s rotation, and the position of landforms that interact with the currents.

What can we learn from the circulating waters of the ocean?

Seen from space, the circulating waters offer a study in both chaos and order. Currents can be broken down into two forms of circulation. One is wind-driven circulation and the other is thermohaline circulation. The image below shows the characteristic surface currents of the ocean.

How do atmospheric circulation and the Coriolis effect affect wind patterns?

Atmospheric circulation and the Coriolis effect create global wind patterns including the trade winds and westerlies. Click the image for a larger view. In the Northern Hemisphere, warm air around the equator rises and flows north toward the pole. As the air moves away from the equator, the Coriolis effect deflects it toward the right.