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Oceanic currents are largely driven by the surface wind stress hence the large-scale atmospheric circulation is important to understanding the ocean circulation.
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This is the beginning of the thermohaline circulation. Instead ocean deep water is formed in polar regions where cold salty waters sink in fairly restricted areas. By contrast the ocean is heated from above, which tends to suppress convection. The atmosphere is heated from below, which leads to convection, the largest expression of which is the Hadley circulation. Perhaps three quarters of this heat is carried in the atmosphere the rest is carried in the ocean. The amount of sunlight absorbed at the surface varies strongly with latitude, being greater at the equator than at the poles, and this engenders fluid motion in both the atmosphere and ocean that acts to redistribute heat from the equator towards the poles, thereby reducing the temperature gradients that would exist in the absence of fluid motion. Circulation Įnergy for the ocean circulation (and for the atmospheric circulation) comes from solar radiation and gravitational energy from the sun and moon. These variations of salinity and temperature with depth change the density of the seawater, creating the pycnocline. The halocline usually lies near the surface, where evaporation raises salinity in the tropics, or meltwater dilutes it in polar regions. In terms of temperature, the ocean's layers are highly latitude-dependent the thermocline is pronounced in the tropics, but nonexistent in polar waters (Marshak 2001). The vertical structure of the temperature can be divided into three basic layers, a surface mixed layer, where gradients are low, a thermocline where gradients are high, and a poorly stratified abyss. Surface temperatures can range from below freezing near the poles to 35 ☌ in restricted tropical seas, while salinity can vary from 10 to 41 ppt (1.0–4.1%). There is still quite a bit of variation, however. The same percentage falls in a salinity range between 34 and 35 ppt (3.4–3.5%) (Pinet 1996). Temperature, salinity and density īecause the vast majority of the world ocean's volume is deep water, the mean temperature of seawater is low roughly 75% of the ocean's volume has a temperature from 0° – 5 ☌ (Pinet 1996).
#Data analysis methods in physcial oceanography plus#
Area, volume plus mean and maximum depths of oceans (excluding adjacent seas) Though this apparent discrepancy is great, for both land and sea, the respective extremes such as mountains and trenches are rare. įrom sea level, the oceans are far deeper than the continents are tall examination of the Earth's hypsographic curve shows that the average elevation of Earth's landmasses is only 840 metres (2,760 ft), while the ocean's average depth is 3,800 metres (12,500 ft). The ocean's influence extends even to the composition of volcanic rocks through seafloor metamorphism, as well as to that of volcanic gases and magmas created at subduction zones. The tremendous heat capacity of the oceans moderates the planet's climate, and its absorption of various gases affects the composition of the atmosphere. Roughly 97% of the planet's water is in its oceans, and the oceans are the source of the vast majority of water vapor that condenses in the atmosphere and falls as rain or snow on the continents. The purple sea floor at the center of the view is the Puerto Rico Trench. Perspective view of the sea floor of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. GFD is a sub field of Fluid dynamics describing flows occurring on spatial and temporal scales that are greatly influenced by the Coriolis force. These are part of the large field of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (GFD) that is shared together with meteorology. ĭescriptive physical oceanography seeks to research the ocean through observations and complex numerical models, which describe the fluid motions as precisely as possible.ĭynamical physical oceanography focuses primarily upon the processes that govern the motion of fluids with emphasis upon theoretical research and numerical models. Physical oceanography may be subdivided into descriptive and dynamical physical oceanography. Others include biological, chemical and geological oceanography. Physical oceanography is one of several sub-domains into which oceanography is divided. Physical oceanography is the study of physical conditions and physical processes within the ocean, especially the motions and physical properties of ocean waters.