Discussion 3/27

Midterm reduxLectures 14&15

Poster drafts

Oceanography

• Water vapor source; hydrological cycle, latent heat, severe weather

• Energy exchange w/ atmosphere, ~thermostat• Poleward energy transport

Major Ocean Currents

Upwelling

• Also happens off Peru

El Niño

El Niño and La Niña• How does El Niño affect global weather patterns?• Western Pacific experiences less rainfall as warm

water moves east. • This shift in rain patterns moves the subtropical

jet stream from its normal path.• This change in the path of the sub-tropical Jet

allows El Niño to affect the weather and climate of the mid-latitudes as well as the tropics.

• The commodities markets use the NOAA El Niño forecasts to influence their buying and selling.

Tropical Cyclones• Hurricanes/Typhoons/Cyclones• Formation: some disturbance gets ‘spun up’ drawing

energy from warm ocean waters (T>25oC)• Over 61km/hr, tropical storm, named; over

119km/hr, hurricane• Bands of rising moist air vs. cool, sinking air;

particularly in center “eye”• Storm surge, inland flooding, winds• Weaken with cool water, land, or unfavorable airflow

aloft