Why are global oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns important to life on Earth?

Why are global oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns important to life on Earth?

The ocean’s global circulation system plays a key role in distributing heat energy, regulating weather and climate, and cycling vital nutrients and gases. Density differences in ocean water drive the global conveyor belt. This global circulation system is also called thermohaline circulation.

How patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation determine regional climates?

Patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates vary by latitude, altitude, and geographic land distribution. Atmospheric circulation that, in part, determines regional climates is the result of sunlight-driven latitudinal banding, the Coriolis effect, and resulting prevailing winds.

How do oceanic and atmospheric circulations affect the distribution of energy on earth?

Because they cover 67 per cent of the Earth’s surface, the oceans receive 67 per cent of the Sun’s energy that reaches Earth. It holds onto this heat for longer than the land does and the ocean currents move this heat around, from the tropics to higher latitudes.

How does climate change impact wind patterns and atmospheric circulation patterns and thus the distribution of heat?

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere repeatedly absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation (heat). Changes in temperature differences over the surface of the Earth due to global warming can alter atmospheric circulation patterns and how wind distribute heat across the surface of the Earth.

How does oceanic circulation affect 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. When water molecules are heated, they exchange freely with the air in a process called evaporation.

How does unequal heating of Earth and Earth’s rotation cause Earth’s patterns of atmospheric circulation?

Global convection currents are caused by global winds. The rotation of the Earth in global convection currents causes certain winds in the different hemispheres to curve to a certain direction (slide 5). This is called the Coriolis Effect and this occurs over the land and the sea (atmospheric and oceanic circulation).

What is Earth’s atmospheric circulation?

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.

What are the two main causes of atmospheric circulation?

The two major causes of global wind circulation are inequalities in radiation distribution over the Earth’s surface and the Earth’s rotation.

What is the primary cause of atmospheric circulation?

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 three factors have the greatest effect on Earth’s climate?

Terms in this set (27)

  • the sun, the atmosphere, and the ocean.
  • a warming of Earth’s atmosphere by greenhouse gases that trap reflected heat rather than allowing it to escape into space.
  • carbon dioxide.
  • weather occurs over hours and days and climate occurs over seasons and years.

What are the global patterns of atmospheric heating and circulation?

The global patterns of atmospheric heating and circulation can best be described as the circulation of air mainly due to the effect of unequal heating of the earth’s surface as well as the varying patterns of precipitation.

How is the circulation of the oceans related to the atmosphere?

The circulation of the oceans More than half of the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface is absorbed by the oceans, where it is stored and redistributed, before being released back into the atmosphere. Ocean and atmosphere are quite intimately linked.

How are pressure belts and surface waves related to atmospheric circulation?

Global Atmospheric Circulation – pressure belts and surface waves. The global atmospheric circulation patterns that are evident in the Earth’s atmosphere are a product of the differential heating of the Earth. Put more simply – it is hotter near the equator where the sun is directly overhead than the poles where the sun is nearer the horizon.

Which is a description of the global circulation?

Over the major parts of the Earth’s surface there are large-scale wind circulations present. 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.

Which is an example of a global circulation pattern?

This uneven heating produces global circulation patterns. For example, the abundance of energy reaching the equator produces hot humid air that rises high into the atmosphere. A low pressure area forms at the surface and a region of clouds forms at altitude. The air eventually stops rising and spreads north and south towards the Earth’s poles.

How does the circulation of the ocean affect the climate?

The ocean’s global circulation system plays a key role in distributing heat energy, regulating weather and climate, and cycling vital nutrients and gases. Density differences in ocean water drive the global conveyor belt. This global circulation system is also called thermohaline circulation.

How is the global circulation related to the troposphere?

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.

Global Atmospheric Circulation – pressure belts and surface waves. The global atmospheric circulation patterns that are evident in the Earth’s atmosphere are a product of the differential heating of the Earth. Put more simply – it is hotter near the equator where the sun is directly overhead than the poles where the sun is nearer the horizon.