ATOC 185 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Wind Shear, Ocean Current
22 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Starts with normal water condition in the pacific ocean. There is a large layer of cold and nutrient rich water which is makes up most of the ocean. This cold layer is below a warm, less dense, shallow layer of nutrient poor water. Normally there is wind (tropical trade winds) present which blows from east to west (from south america to asia and australia) above the pacific ocean, especially in tropical regions. These winds in normal conditions have certain impacts on the water: the warm layer of the ocean is pushed towards the west which makes it deeper towards asia and australia. 3: there is the process of upwelling which is a change in the ocean circulation. As the air pushes the warm water to the west, the cold water at the west is pushed back and up towards the east. This facilitates the fishing industry in south america due to the nutrient rich cold water being brought back.
