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Chapter17 PDF
Chapter17 PDF
Three major “layers” make up the planet Earth. In the last chapter, 17.1
you learned about two layers: the land, or lithosphere, which is made Ocean Temperature
up of the core, mantle, and crust, and the water, or hydrosphere, and Wind
which covers much of the land. In addition, there is the layer of air,
or atmosphere, which covers the entire hydrosphere and lithosphere. 17.2
These different layers interact with one another to produce changes Moisture in
in each part. For example, the wind makes waves. The evaporation the Air
of water from the ocean forms clouds. This, in turn, may produce
precipitation over nearby land.
17.3
Local, short-term conditions in the atmosphere, such as the Stormy
humidity, temperature, and wind velocity, are called weather. Weather
Weather varies from place to place and from day to day in any 17.4
given location. However, large geographical areas have long-term The
prevailing patterns of weather, called climate.
Greenhouse
The ocean exerts a great influence on weather and climate,
producing a variety of conditions, from mild sea breezes to violent
Effect
hurricanes (such as the one shown above). In this chapter, you will
see how interactions among the hydrosphere, lithosphere, and
atmosphere produce weather and climate changes.
415
17.1 OCEAN TEMPERATURE AND WIND
As you know, Earth does not have a uniform climate. It is, gener-
ally, warmest at the equator and coldest at the poles. Why does the
temperature vary over the surface of the planet? The answer has to
do with the rays that Earth receives from the sun—the kinds of rays,
the angle at which they strike the surface, what kind of surface they
strike, how they are reflected or absorbed, the time of the year (sea-
sons), and Earth’s position in relation to the sun.
Energy from the sun, which is called radiant energy, travels
through space as rays (also called radiation). The sun emits different
kinds of radiation. Visible light is one of these forms of radiant
energy.
Some radiant energy that strikes Earth’s surface is absorbed and
changed into heat. The rest is either absorbed by the atmosphere or
reflected back into space. The amount of solar energy that reaches
any part of the planet depends on the angle at which the rays strike
Earth’s surface, called the angle of insolation. The amount of
energy that is absorbed as heat depends on conditions in the atmos-
phere, physical properties of the surface the rays reach, and the
angle of insolation. (See Figure 17-1.)
Solar energy is most intense at the equator because the rays are
direct, that is, they strike Earth at an angle of 90 degrees. Due to
Earth’s curvature and tilt on its axis, regions north and south of the
equator receive the rays at an angle that is slanted relative to the
surface. Slanted rays are spread out over a larger area than are direct
rays (which are more concentrated), so slanted rays are less intense.
(See Figure 17-2.)
Ocean Temperature
The uneven heating of Earth’s surface causes the ocean’s tempera-
ture to vary with latitude. The ocean is warmest at the equator. As
the distance north and south of the equator increases, the tempera-
ture of the ocean’s surface waters generally decreases (not counting
effects of specific ocean currents). The ocean is coldest at the poles
because those areas have the lowest angle of insolation and receive
the least intense solar heat.
Water Water
vapor vapor
absorption absorption
Scattering
and diffuse Cloud reflection
reflection
Equator
B Direct rays
C Slanted rays
p ri n g North
th ern s ern w
Northern
Nor inte
r hemisphere
Equator tilted away
First day S
Direct rays from sun
of summer
strike equator
June 21
N Equator N
Direct rays strike Direct rays strike
Sun
northern hemisphere southern hemisphere
First day
S Equator S of winter
December 21
Direct rays
strike equator N
No r n
th er utum
n su ern a
m me
r N o rt h
Northern hemisphere
tilted toward sun
Equator
S
First day of fall September 23
Ocean Wind
On a hot summer day, you may go to the beach to get some relief
from the heat. You feel cooler as you approach the sea because a
cool wind blows off the water. Often, the wind (which is a mass of
moving air) is in the form of a gentle breeze, called a sea breeze.
(See Figure 17-4.) The sea breeze is cool because air over the ocean is
cooler than air over the adjacent land. Ocean air is cooler because
water takes a longer time to heat from the sun’s rays than land does.
Consequently, on a summer day, the ocean releases less heat into
the air above it than the land does. This cooler air moves in, as a
sea breeze, from over the ocean to above the land.
Figure 17-4 A sea breeze
The opposite occurs at night. Cooler air from the land moves occurs during the day; a
seaward, producing what is called a land breeze. (See Figure 17-4.) land breeze occurs at
night.
DAY NIGHT
Sun heats
both land
Warm air
and water
rises
Cool air Radiational
sinks cooling
Cool air Warm air
sinks rises
Warm
Cool
Land Land land
sea
heats cools breeze
breeze
quickly quickly
Convection box
Candle Glass front
Heated
Cool Cool air
heavier heavier rises Air cools
water water and sinks
sinks sinks
Warm
lighter Cool air Cool air
water
rises
Flames Flames
the cooler part sinks. (See Figure 17-6.) So the sea breeze and the
land breeze are actually convection currents. During the day, the
sun heats the sand, causing hot air to rise above it; cooler air over
the ocean flows in to take its place, producing the sea breeze. And
during the night, cooler air over the land flows out to take the place
of warmer air that rises above the ocean.
The fact that the land and the sea gain and lose heat at different
rates helps to explain, in part, why temperatures along a coast are
generally more moderate than those of inland areas. During the
summer, coastal cities are often a few degrees cooler than nearby
inland cities (at the same latitude), due to the cooling effect of the
ocean. And during the winter, coastal cities are often a few degrees
warmer than nearby inland cities (at the same latitude), because
they benefit from the warming effect of the ocean, which slowly
releases heat that was absorbed from the sun.
The ocean not only affects air temperature but also greatly influ-
ences the amount of water vapor, or moisture, in the air. The
amount of moisture in the atmosphere is called humidity. Because
they are near the ocean, coastal regions are often more humid than
inland regions.
Saturated air
Humidity
How is humidity determined? Actually, scientists calculate relative
humidity. Relative humidity is the amount of water vapor in the
air compared to the maximum amount (saturation) of water vapor
0 the air can hold at a given temperature. Saturation occurs when the
air is completely filled with water vapor and cannot hold any more.
Relative humidity is expressed as a percentage. (See Figure 17-7.) You
can use the following formula to calculate relative humidity:
4 grains
Relative humidity = amount of water vapor in air
amount needed for saturation ✕ 100
0
Relative humidity = 0.88 gram ✕ 100
Relative humidity = 88 percent
Fog
The air at sea level in many coastal regions is often filled with so
much moisture that it looks like a cloud. Air that is saturated with Dry
moisture near the ground is called fog. Actually, a fog can be con-
sidered a ground-level cloud. Fog forms when warm, moist air makes
contact with a cold surface. The mirror in your bathroom often “fogs Wet
up” when warm, moist air from the shower makes contact with the
cold surface of the mirror. When water condenses (changes from a
vapor to a liquid) on a solid surface, it is called dew, which you may Figure 17-8 A sling psy-
have seen on cars and lawns on cool summer mornings. Dew is chrometer.
moisture that comes from the warm air and condenses on the
Ocean
Hurricanes
A hurricane is a coastal storm with a wind velocity that exceeds
120 km per hour. Hurricanes form in tropical seas where there is
hot, moist air. Such conditions contain the heat needed to fuel a
hurricane. (See Figure 17-12, which shows U.S. hurricane paths.) As
the hot, moist air rises, it cools in the upper atmosphere and con-
denses into ring-shaped clouds about 19 km in height. During con-
densation, a great deal of heat energy is released, which causes more
hot air to rise even quicker. This whirlwind of rising air moves in a
spiral direction around a core of relatively calm air known as the
“eye” of a hurricane. The eye of a hurricane may range from about
25 to 65 km in diameter, while the total diameter of a large hurri-
cane may be more than 500 km. The worst conditions occur just
outside the hurricane’s eye, with heavy thunderstorms and winds
of over 300 km per hour. Unfortunately, some people think that a
hurricane has passed when in fact they are still in its eye, and the
other half of the storm has yet to pass through their area.
United States
Gulf of
Mexico
Mexico Atlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Damage by Hurricanes
When a hurricane does reach land, it can be very destructive. Most
damage occurs when a hurricane produces a storm surge, which
raises the sea level several meters above normal and pushes the
water inland, causing flooding. A storm surge can be particularly
damaging if it occurs during a high tide. As the hurricane moves
inland, it slows because its winds move slower over land and there is
not enough moisture to sustain it. If the storm continues to move
inland, it dissipates and dies out. Hurricanes also lose power as they
move over the cooler waters of the northern Atlantic because they
lose the heat needed to fuel their winds. Hurricane Allen moved
inland and weakened over a three-day period in August 1980. The
satellite photos showed a tight, spiral mass in the Gulf of Mexico
on August 10; a looser spiral on August 11 as the hurricane weak-
ened and passed over northern Mexico and southern Texas; and
finally, on August 12, all that remained of Hurricane Allen were dif-
fuse clouds over Texas and Mexico. (See Figure 17-13.)
Hurricane intensity is rated on a scale from one to five, called
the Saffir-Simpson Damage Potential Scale. A category-one hurri-
cane causes “minimal” damage, while a category-five hurricane with
winds of over 250 km per hour causes “catastrophic” damage. Hur-
ricane Andrew in 1992 was classified as a category-four hurricane.
On August 23 and 24, Hurricane Andrew killed 62 people and
caused $25 billion in damage as it tore through the Bahamas, south-
ern Florida, and Louisiana. More than 25,000 homes were destroyed
and 250,000 people were left homeless. Measures have been under-
taken by the federal government to prepare and protect the public
from hurricane damage. For example, besides having an early warn-
ing system based on satellite readings, the states of Florida and
Louisiana have building codes that require homes to withstand 177
kilometer-per-hour winds.
A list of some of the most destructive hurricanes in recent U.S.
history is in Table 17-1, on page 428. Note that even though Hurri-
cane Andrew was very destructive, far fewer people were killed than
in previous hurricanes, thanks to official hurricane warnings.
Andrew 1992 62
Low pressure
region (warm
water)
~
Warm El Nino
water moves
eastward
Southeast
trade winds
weaken
High pressure
region (cold
water)
3%
40%
Forest Ocean
Beach Snow
QUESTIONS
1. How might a global warming trend contribute to a rise in the sea level?
2. Why would melting glaciers, but not melting ice shelves, cause a rise in sea level?
3. Explain the argument proposed by scientists who claim that a warming trend will not cause a rise
in the sea level.
.8 4
Sea level (cm)
.6
0
.4
–4
.2
0 –8
1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980
340
330
320
310
300
1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998
MATERIALS: Colored pencils, copies of the two maps of the Pacific Ocean.
PROCEDURE
1. Examine the two maps in Figure 17-19. Notice the isotherms—lines that
connect locations having the same temperature. Each isotherm represents a
different temperature.
2. Use the colored pencils to highlight the temperature ranges indicated by the
isotherms. Prepare a temperature key that shows the appropriate colors.
3. Next, color in the temperature ranges of the isotherms on your copy of each
map, using the color key as a guide.
2. Compare the temperatures of mid-ocean water at 20°S and at 20°N for the
two years. Is there a noticeable difference between them?
3. Based on the ocean temperature differences between the two maps, which
year probably shows an El Niño? Explain.
EQ
30 28
28 26
26 24
24 22 20 S
22 20
20 18
18 16
16 14 14 40 S
60 S
120 E 140 E 160 E 180 160 W 140 W 120 W 100 W 80 W 60 W
Temperature Color Key
28°C or > 26–28°C 24 –26°C 22–24°C 20–22°C 20°C or <
(red) (orange) (yellow) (blue) (green) (violet)
28
26
24 22 20 20 S
18
22 16
20
18 14 40 S
16 14
60 S
120 E 140 E 160 E 180 160 W 140 W 120 W 100 W 80 W 60 W
Temperature Color Key
28°C or > 26–28°C 24–26°C 22–24°C 20–22°C 20°C or <
(red) (orange) (yellow) (blue) (green) (violet)
Vocabulary
The following list contains all the boldface terms in this chapter.
Fill In
Use one of the vocabulary terms listed above to complete each sentence.
p ri n g North
th ern s ern w
Nor inte
r
Equator
S
Direct rays
strike equator
June 21 December 21
N Equator N
Direct rays strike Direct rays strike
Sun
northern hemisphere southern hemisphere
S Equator S
Direct rays
strike equator N
No r n
th er utum
n su ern a
m me
r N o rt h
Equator
S
September 23
Multiple Choice
Choose the response that best completes the sentence or answers the
question.
12. Cool air that moves seaward from the land is called a
a. sea breeze b. land breeze c. fog d. condensation.
Research/Activity