GEOSC 040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Eutrophication, Coriolis Force, Ocean Current
Document Summary
Seasons are caused because of the tilt axis of earth. Hadley cell is a wind current that influences large-scale ocean currents. Global atmospheric winds plus thermohaline circulation drive ocean surface currents. Narrow, deep, warm, strong currents: east australian, gulf stream, kuroshio (japan) current. Driven by heat transport from equatorial regions toward the poles. Broad, shallow, cold, weak currents: california current, canary current. Sensible heat and moving it north: evection. Latent heat transfer: taking warm water and use the warmth to evaporate the water and produce water vapor. Blow the air to the north and transport it from gas to liquid: does about 60% of the transfer. Key factors and processes: pattern of solar energy absorption leads to temperature gradient, heat transfer drives winds and ocean circulation, sensible heat transfer and latent heat transfer to the atmosphere, eastern and westerly boundary currents. Currents are at the boundary of the ocean basin. In january we are the closest to the sun.
