Article Title: The Oceans and Weather
Author: Peter J. Webster and Judith A. Curry
Keypoints:
- The sea is as important as the atmosphere in controlling the planet's weather
- El Nino increased public awareness that many unusual events all over the globe-relentless series of storms, prolonged droughts, massive floods-were directly caused by changing conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean
- Connections between the ocean and the atmosphere can influence and often dominate changes in the weather and longer-term climate everywhere
- The sea near the equator is warm because solar heating is generally most intense there
- The earth constantly loses heat to space
- The ocean and the atmosphere work together like a planetary thermostat, sharing nearly equally the task of exporting heat from equatorial regions toward the poles.
- If earth did not rotate, heated air would travel directly toward the poles.
- Sometimes the link between oceans and storms can be explosive; ex- outpourings of frigid Arctic air frequently sweep down across NA and Asia during winter.
- Bombs develop extremely quickly, taxing the ability of weather forecasters and often causing death and destruction.
- In 1987 a bomb with wind speeds exceeding 160 km per hour hit the coasts of Britain and France, killing 25 people, injuring 120 more and destroying 45 million trees
- The ocean generates intense storms at lower latitudes, in or around certain tropical regions. They are called hurricanes, cyclones, or typhoons
- Hurricanes form only in places where the ocean-surface temperature exceeds 81 degrees F, which is usually in the late summer.
- If the conditions in the ocean and the atmosphere are just right, around 10% of hurricanes turn into full-fledged hurricanes
- Superheated air from hurricanes is forced upwards, causing the atmospheric pressure at the surface of the ocean to drop significantly.
- When the ocean provides a more stable source of moisture to the atmosphere, it can create weather patterns that affect society than hurricanes (monsoons)
- Monsoons mark the end of a period of intense heat and because the rainfall is essential for crops to grow.
- The ocean and the atmosphere in the Pacific perform and intricate, delicately poised pas de deux.
- As the warm pool in the Pacific migrates eastward, it injects heat and moisture into the overlying air.
- El Nino affects the frequency, severity and paths of storms, lowering the probability of hurricanes in the Atlantic but increasing the chances of cyclones and typhoons in the Pacific
- El Nino affects many people; it can spread waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery and hepatitis as well as vector-borne diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, encephalitis, plague, hantavtirus and schistosomiasis
- The damage brought by El Nino in 1982 and 1983 caused meteorologists to look beyond the typical one-week range of most forecasts and to try to predict the weather a season, or perhaps a year or more, in advance. They used the ocean to help them out with this
- With a better understanding of the ocean, scientists may yet be able to forecast climate changes from year to year or even from one decade to the next
Summary:
The ocean has more to do with the weather than we thought. The atmosphere and the ocean work together to make and change the weather. Connections between the ocean and the atmosphere can influence and often dominate changes in the weather and longer-term climate everywhere. Some examples of this are monsoons, cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes, etc. These changes can be devastating to us. Sometimes the link between oceans and storms can be explosive; ex- outpourings of frigid Arctic air frequently sweep down across North America and Asia during winter. Meteorologists are turning to the ocean to help them with their weather forecasts, so that the upcoming events can be foreseen for up to years or even decades.
The ocean has more to do with the weather than we thought. The atmosphere and the ocean work together to make and change the weather. Connections between the ocean and the atmosphere can influence and often dominate changes in the weather and longer-term climate everywhere. Some examples of this are monsoons, cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes, etc. These changes can be devastating to us. Sometimes the link between oceans and storms can be explosive; ex- outpourings of frigid Arctic air frequently sweep down across North America and Asia during winter. Meteorologists are turning to the ocean to help them with their weather forecasts, so that the upcoming events can be foreseen for up to years or even decades.
My Thoughts:
Before reading this article, I did not know how much of an impact the ocean and the atmosphere had on climate and weather change. El Nino is very destructive and the devastation from 1982-83 caused meteorologists to look beyond the typical one-week range of most forecasts and to try to predict the weather more in advance. If predicting the weather for up to decades is perfected, then many people would be saved from upcoming natural disasters such as hurricanes or typhoons.
Before reading this article, I did not know how much of an impact the ocean and the atmosphere had on climate and weather change. El Nino is very destructive and the devastation from 1982-83 caused meteorologists to look beyond the typical one-week range of most forecasts and to try to predict the weather more in advance. If predicting the weather for up to decades is perfected, then many people would be saved from upcoming natural disasters such as hurricanes or typhoons.
So What?Oceans and the weather cause the storms and severe weather we see today
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Says who?Peter J. Webster and Judith A. Curry
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What if?Oceans weren't affected by the weather?
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This reminds me of...the Day After Tomorrow movie.
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