Based on your predictions, complete the table for wind directions that you would feel if you were standing on the west coast or the east coast of North America:
Location
|
East Coast
|
West Coast
|
July: Winds from (N or S)
Air temp (warm/cool)
|
|
|
January: Winds from (N or S)
Air temp (warm/cool)
|
|
|
9. Which has a more moderate climate, the east coast or the west coast of North America?
10. Is this true for other continents? Why or why not?
11. Air masses attain their characteristics from the surface over which they flow. Which month would you predict the rainy season occurs in India and the rest of continental Southeast Asia?
12. When is the dry season in India and the rest of continental Southeast Asia?
TRY THIS: The Aleutian Low-Pacific High Today
Look at today's satellite images here. Click on the Pacific region to see a more close-up image of that area.
13. Which is more predominate today, the Aleutian Low or the Pacific High?
14. What is it that you see on the satellite image that makes you say this?
15. Does your assessment agree with what you would predict for the current season?
Draw a generalized picture of today's high and low pressure systems in the Pacific in the space below. On your picture draw in and label all the examples of the Coriolis effect that you can see. This current atmospheric pressure map may help you identify the location of the high and low pressure systems.
Ocean Circulation
On the map below, draw the major surface currents of the world’s oceans.
Label the following currents and gyres on your map:
Currents
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Gyres
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The California Current
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North Pacific
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The Kuroshio Current
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South Pacific
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The Gulf Stream
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North Atlantic
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The Canary Current
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South Atlantic
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West Wind Drift
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Indian
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The Peru Current
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(Note: All of these are also called subtropical gyres)
|
The North Equatorial Current
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The South Equatorial Current
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The Sub-Tropical Gyres
The Coriolis effect causes water to pile up in the middle of these gyres. The “hills of water” are small, only 2-3 meters high, so you’d never see or feel them. Nevertheless, they do influence oceanic circulation. The center of the gyres are not in the center of the ocean basins; instead, because of the eastward rotation of the Earth, they are displaced westwards (the earth rotates out from under them, so to speak).
16. Given a westward displaced gyre, which currents flow fastest and strongest - the eastern boundary currents or the western boundary currents?
17. Explain your answer. You can use the image to the left to help.
Salinity Variations
18. The difference between annual precipitation and evaporation can explain the longitudinal (N-S) variation in salinity, but explains less of the latitudinal (E-W) variations. How might surface water circulation patterns influence surface salinity values as shown below? Specifically, why isn’t the surface water off the coast of California as salty as in the middle of the north Pacific at 30N?
Upwelling and Downwelling
These diagrams show the various ways that upwelling and downwelling can be created. Note that the situation in “A” could also be produced by winds moving towards you out of the paper. These images will form the basis for the answers to the following questions.
The diagram below shows a map on the left and a cross section on the right. Assuming a north wind as shown on the map, draw in the direction of surface currents and deeper water currents on the cross section.
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