BIOL 4673 Lecture 8: Lecture 2

• School: Acadia University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOL 4673
• Professor: Alexandre G R O S J E A N

Document Summary

Lecture 2: the prevailing wind system is the major driving force for ocean currents. Last lecture: summary of environmental problems in ocean, geography of the worlds ocean, physical properties, basic introduction to temperature and salinity distribution in the oceans. Lecture 2- outline: major wind patterns, the beau fort scale-waves and winds, storm surges, coriolis for(cid:272)es, surfa(cid:272)e (cid:272)urre(cid:374)ts & ek(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:272)ir(cid:272)ulatio(cid:374). Coriolis force results in how water currents drive in the ocean: coastal upwelling. Meteorologist-distance above the water: the convention for indicating the direction of ocean currents differs from the convention used for wind directions, a westerly wind is a wind which blows from the west and goes to the east; a. Where the wind goes is of no consequence: at sea, the important information is where the current goes: a ship exposed to current drift has to stay well clear from obstacles downstream.