Lecture 9- Ocean Circulation

Question 1

wind belts

Answer 1

alternate direction

Question 2

primary wind belts

Answer 2

• polar easterlies
• westerlies
• northeast/ southeast trades

Question 3

wind belt (0-30)

Answer 3

northeast trades

Question 4

wind belt (30-60)

Answer 4

westerlies

Question 5

wind belt (60-90)

Answer 5

polar easterlies

Question 6

wind belt (0-30 S)

Answer 6

southeast trades

Question 7

wind belt (30S - 60S)

Answer 7

westerlies

Question 8

wind belt (60S - 90)

Answer 8

polar easterlies

Question 9

ocean surface temperature

Answer 9

• warmest water along the equator in the western ocean basins
• coldest water along the pole
• tongue of cold water in the eastern equatorial region

Question 10

Atlantic ocean temperature at depth

Answer 10

• warm thin surface layer
• cold thick deep layer
• thermocline separates warm and cold layers

Question 11

ocean surface salinity

Answer 11

• saltiest water in the subtropics
• Atlantic considerably more salty than the other oceans
• North Pacific the freshest of all regions

Question 12

Atlantic Ocean salinity at depth

Answer 12

• high salinity in surface ocean

- deep ocean salinity more uniform

Question 13

rotation of subtropical gyres

Answer 13

• clockwise in the northern hemisphere

- counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere

Question 14

subpolar gyres

Answer 14

• rotate counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere

- absent in the southern hemisphere

Question 15

Antarctic circumpolar current

Answer 15

moves eastward around the Antarctic continent

Question 16

Why is the Coriolis force needed?

Answer 16

needed to account for the acceleration of the reference coordinate system (Newton’s law F=ma doesn’t apply anymore)

Question 17

material is warmed when

Answer 17

it absorbs radiant energy (ie. solar energy)

Question 18

visible radiant energy from the sun

Answer 18

• short wavelength radiation

- passes through the atmosphere without being heated

Question 19

Earth’s surface

Answer 19

• absorbs a lot of the sunlight energy so it becomes warm

- warm surface radiates infrared radiation (long) which is absorbed by the atmosphere

Question 20

atmosphere is heated from

Answer 20

below

Question 21

atmospheric convection and precipitation is strongest

Answer 21

along the equator

Question 22

air column with high amounts of water vapor

Answer 22

weighs less (creates lower sea level pressure underneath it)

Question 23

sea level pressure at Pole (90 degrees)

Answer 23

high SLP

Question 24

SLP at 60 N/S

Answer 24

low SLP

Question 25

SLP at 30 N/S

Answer 25

high SLP

Question 26

SLP at equator

Answer 26

low SLP