What drives global and ocean winds?
As you already know, sunlight (solar energy, or energy from the Sun) is the primary source of energy for all processes that occur in Earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere. This means that solar energy is also the primary driver of winds and ocean currents .
What is the driver for global wind and ocean circulation quizlet?
Global winds are caused by the uneven heating of earth's surface and the Coriolis.
What is the main driver of oceanic circulation?
These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water's density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation. In the Earth's polar regions ocean water gets very cold, forming sea ice.
What are three factors that drive ocean currents?
Oceanic currents are driven by three main factors:
- The rise and fall of the tides. Tides create a current in the oceans, which are strongest near the shore, and in bays and estuaries along the coast. …
- Wind. Winds drive currents that are at or near the ocean's surface. …
- Thermohaline circulation.
Feb 26, 2021
What does the Coriolis effect cause?
the result of Earth's rotation on weather patterns and ocean currents. The Coriolis effect makes storms swirl clockwise in the Southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. force that explains the paths of objects on rotating bodies.
What is the driving force behind surface ocean circulation?
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.
What is global wind circulation?
The global circulation can be described as the world-wide system of winds by which the necessary transport of heat from tropical to polar latitudes is accomplished. In each hemisphere there are three cells (Hadley cell, Ferrel cell and Polar cell) in which air circulates through the entire depth of the troposphere.
What is the driving force of oceanic and atmospheric circulation?
Heat, a form of energy, helps drive ocean and atmospheric circulation. The ocean absorbs and stores more heat than the atmosphere. Both the atmosphere and ocean are moving; the atmosphere does this quickly, the ocean slowly.
What drives the ocean conveyor system?
The global ocean conveyor belt is a constantly moving system of deep-ocean circulation driven by temperature and salinity. The great ocean conveyor moves water around the globe. The ocean is not a still body of water.
What is the driving force behind surface currents?
The major driving force of surface currents is the wind. The winds that drive the Gulf Stream are the Westerlies. They blow in an eastwards direction and penetrate to a depth of approximately 200 metres, dragging the surface water at high velocity over a long distance.
What are the main factors that drive surface currents?
Surface currents are controlled by three factors: global winds, the Coriolis effect, and continental deflections. surface create surface currents in the ocean. Different winds cause currents to flow in different directions. objects from a straight path due to the Earth's rotation.
How does the Coriolis effect influence wind and ocean currents?
The force, called the "Coriolis effect," causes the direction of winds and ocean currents to be deflected. In the Northern Hemisphere, wind and currents are deflected toward the right, in the Southern Hemisphere they are deflected to the left.
How does Coriolis force affect ocean currents?
This apparent deflection is the Coriolis effect. Fluids traveling across large areas, such as air currents, are like the path of the ball. They appear to bend to the right in the Northern Hemisphere. The Coriolis effect behaves the opposite way in the Southern Hemisphere, where currents appear to bend to the left.
What force drives winds and ocean currents quizlet?
1. Wind is the primary driving force of surface currents. The Coriolis effect deflects the currents to the right (Northern Hemisphere) or left (Southern Hemisphere) of their path of motion (the prevailing wind direction). The location of the continents also affects the pattern of surface currents.
What causes global circulation?
Differential heating. The reason we have different weather patterns, jet streams, deserts and prevailing winds is all because of the global atmospheric circulation caused by the rotation of the Earth and the amount of heat different parts of the globe receive.
What is the driving force for the Hadley cell circulation pattern?
Mechanism. The driving force of atmospheric circulation is the uneven distribution of solar heating across the earth, which is greatest near the equator and least at the poles.
What is termed as the driving force of the wind?
Wind results from a horizontal difference in air pressure and since the sun heats different parts of the Earth differently, causing pressure differences, the Sun is the driving force for most winds.
What is the main driving force for surface ocean currents?
The major driving force of surface currents is the wind. The winds that drive the Gulf Stream are the Westerlies. They blow in an eastwards direction and penetrate to a depth of approximately 200 metres, dragging the surface water at high velocity over a long distance.
What is global ocean circulation?
Global Ocean Circulation. Global Ocean Circulation. Ocean circulation is the large scale movement of waters in the ocean basins. Winds drive surface circulation, and the cooling and sinking of waters in the polar regions drive deep circulation. Surface circulation carries the warm upper waters poleward from the tropics …
What is the primary driver for the surface water in the Atlantic ocean to circulate?
For example, trade winds blow moist air from the Atlantic across Central America and into the Pacific Ocean, which concentrates salinity in the Atlantic waters left behind. As a result, the Atlantic is slightly saltier than the Pacific. This extra salinity makes the Atlantic the driving force in ocean circulation.
What are three forces that drive ocean currents?
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 factors influence ocean circulation?
Winds, water density, and tides all drive ocean currents. Coastal and sea floor features influence their location, direction, and speed. Earth's rotation results in the Coriolis effect which also influences ocean currents.
What causes Coriolis effect?
Because the Earth rotates on its axis, circulating air is deflected toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This deflection is called the Coriolis effect.
How does the Coriolis force effect wind?
The Coriolis Effect deflects the path of the winds to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. Adding this deflection leads to the pattern of prevailing winds illustrated in Figure 8.2.
How does the Coriolis effect affect wind and water movement on Earth?
the result of Earth's rotation on weather patterns and ocean currents. The Coriolis effect makes storms swirl clockwise in the Southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. force that explains the paths of objects on rotating bodies.
How does the Coriolis effect determines global wind patterns?
What is the Coriolis effect? The Earth's rotation means that we experience an apparent force known as the Coriolis force. This deflects the direction of the wind to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.
What are the two main driving forces of ocean currents?
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. Horizontal movements are referred to as currents while vertical changes are called upwellings or downwellings.
What is the circulation of the ocean?
Ocean circulation is the large scale movement of waters in the ocean basins. Winds drive surface circulation, and the cooling and sinking of waters in the polar regions drive deep circulation. Surface circulation carries the warm upper waters poleward from the tropics.
What is global air circulation?
Air flow for no rotation and no water on a planet. Global Circulations explain how air and storm systems travel over the Earth's surface. The global circulation would be simple (and the weather boring) if the Earth did not rotate, the rotation was not tilted relative to the sun, and had no water.
What is the main driving force of the global distribution of temperatures?
Directly or indirectly, the sun provides energy for living organisms, and it drives our planet's weather and climate patterns. Because Earth is spherical, energy from the sun does not reach all areas with equal strength.