SLE102 Lecture 7: WEEK 7 - The world ocean
9 Aug 2018
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Temperature and heat capacity of oceans: earth has east-west temperature belts, with isotherms paralleling the equator, water has capacity to hold a lot of heat, warmest waters are around the equator (lowest latitudes); coldest water at higher. It takes 1 calorie to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree. latitudes. Properties of water vary with depth: seawater becomes denser as temperature decreases, seawater becomes denser when salinity increases, gravity pulls dense water downwards leads to stratification of oceans and circulation in deep ocean. 3 main depth zones in the ocean: surface zone (or mixed zone) Zone beneath surface zone: deep zone. Ocean circulation: surface winds that flow across the sea drag the sea water slowly forward creating ocean currents, main source for this motion is the sun. The coriolis effect: due to the rotation of the earth: **in northern hemisphere: moving bodies move to the right (clockwise) **in southern hemisphere: moving bodies move to the left (anti-clockwise: varies with latitude:
