"The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. The ocean plays a major role in regulating the weather and climate of the planet." says the National Ocean Atmospheric administration. The oceans currents are what determines weather and climate of a region. The water cycle is the continuous movement of water on and below the earths surface. The waters movement is determined by wind, water temperature and the earths rotation. "The ocean and atmosphere are connected. They work together to move heat and freshwater across the globe. Wind-driven and ocean-current circulations move warm water toward the poles and colder water toward the equator." The majority of the earth's heat isn't stored on the earth's surface, most of its stored in the ocean itself. "the absorption and movement of energy on the Earth is related to the ocean-atmosphere system." Thermohaine is the flow of the oceans water due to how dense the water is. An example and diagram is Thermohine is in the picture below. Boundary currents are currents that are determined by the coastline of land "Global winds drag on the water’s surface, causing it to move and build up in the direction that the wind is blowing." When the sun is beating down on the water, some of the water gets evaporated into the air into a gas form. The moisture is what creates rain clouds, after evaporation comes precipitation. The Ocean water is picked up from evaporation and is moved to a different location due the movement of clouds and precipitation. Since Washington is on the west coast and right next to the ocean, they get rain almost everyday due to evaporation in the middle of the ocean. Climate zones are "areas with distinct climate, which occur in east-west direction around the earth, and can be classified using different climatic parameters" says the MetroBlue team. According to the WOR the ocean is a major CO2 reservoir because "The oceans absorb substantial amounts of carbon dioxide, and thereby consume a large portion of this greenhouse gas, which is released by human activity." The regional consequences that El Nino has is that it affects the climate during the winter time; like in the winter time, in western Canada and
United States the winters are mild while in the south they are wet. El Nino is one of the only factors that change the temperatures in a climate or a season. Below is a picture of what the average mean of the US is during the winter due to El Nino.
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| Average mean of Temperatures in the US due to El Nino. http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/gif/fst-temp-us-big.gif |
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| Climate zones http://www.meteoblue.com/en/content/438 |
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| Heat Transfer by ocean currents through thermohaline. http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/thermohaline_ocean_circulation.html |
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| Boundary currents. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/04currents3.html |
