Introduction to

Global Air Circulation

The All-Important Tilt
 Energy from the Sun
What two factors determine the intensity at the Earth’s surface?
 Overall Radiation “Budget”

 Globally balanced (basically) –

Constantly receiving solar energy,
constantly losing energy back into
space

(How can we tell it’s not quite balanced?)

 More Radiation Budget

BIG IDEA: Overall temperature is more

even because of energy “transfers”

 Transfers = currents in the

atmosphere and the ocean

Looking closer at how they start…

Effect of Earth’s Rotation
 YouTube - coriolis effect
 Heat transport
These three huge air circulations carry heat from the Equator to the
poles to balance the overall heat of earth.
 Humidity

Specific
Humidity units
are g/kg

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8c.html
http://www.newcombandcompany.com/2014/03/control-humidity-north-carolina-home/
 Atmospheric Pressure (with
altitude)

Weather maps
are “corrected”
to remove the
effects of
elevation
changes!

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/07/07/fair-or-foul-how-to-use-a-barometer/
Why is Ocean Circulation
Important?
 Transport heat
• Equator to poles
 Transport nutrients and
organisms
 Influences weather and
climate
 Influences commerce
 Ocean Currents
Surface Currents
The upper 400 meters of the ocean
(10%).
Deep Water Currents
Thermal/Salinity currents (90%)
Wind-driven surface currents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
AvchlWftt80
Lost at Sea
 Duckie Progress
•January 1992 - shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast
of China
•November 1992 - half had drifted north to the Bering Sea and
Alaska; the other half went south to Indonesia and Australia
•1995 to 2000 - spent five years in the Arctic ice floes, slowly
working their way through the glaciers
2001 - the duckies bobbed over the place where the Titanic
had sunk
•2003 - they were predicted to begin washing up onshore in
New England, but only one was spotted in Maine
•2007 - a couple duckies and frogs were found on the beaches
of Scotland and southwest England.
Surface and Deep-Sea Current
Interactions
“Global Ocean Conveyor Belt”
 Transport by Currents

 Surface currents play significant roles in

transport heat energy from equatorial
waters towards the poles
 Currents also involved with gas
exchanges, especially O2 and CO2
 Nutrient exchanges important within
surface waters (including outflow from
continents) and deeper waters (upwelling
and downwelling)
 Pollution dispersal
Global ocean circulation that is driven by differences in the
density of the sea water which is controlled by temperature
and salinity.
White sections represent warm surface currents.
Purple sections represent deep cold currents
 Upwelling and downwelling
Vertical movement of water

• Upwelling = movement of deep water to surface

 Hoists cold, nutrient-rich water to surface
 Produces high productivities and abundant marine life

• Downwelling = movement of surface water

down
 Moves warm, nutrient-depleted surface water down
 Not associated with high productivities or abundant
marine life
upwelling

downwelling
 ENSO
El Niño/Southern
Oscillation
La Niña is characterized by
stronger than normal trade
winds.

What would you predict for conditions

(sea height and precipitation locations)
in the equatorial Pacific?
From the side…
 How does latitude
affect climate?
As latitude ________,
increases the average
decreases
annual temperature _________.
Temperature

0° Latitude 90°
 How does closeness to a large
body of water affect climate?
moderates the temperature.
Water __________
Cooler summers. _______
_______ Warmer winters.
Cities A & B are located
at the same latitude.
City B is closer to a large
body of water.

Its temperature line is

flatter (moderated).
 The leeward
sides of the
Adirondacks &
Catskills
receive much
less
precipitation

The windward sides of the

Adirondacks & Catskills
receive a great deal more
precipitation
 Page 14 of the ESRTs

We live in the troposphere.

Temperature decreases
with elevation.
During summer, temperature is strongly controlled by elevation -- cold at the
higher reaches of the Alaska and Brooks Ranges, and warmer in the lowlands.
 How does elevation
affect climate?

increases the average

As elevation _________,
annual temperature __________.
decreases
Temperature

Elevation
 How do ocean currents
affect climate?

Warm Currents: warmer climate

Cold Currents: cooler climate