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Earth is the water planet.
Although forty percent of Earth's population
lives within or near coastal regions,
the ocean impacts people everywhere.
Most of Earth's water
is stored in the ocean - a driving force
for weather and climate.
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The Earth's surface is warmed unevenly
by the sun. Heat, a form of energy,
helps drive ocean and atmospheric circulation.
The ocean absorbs and stores more heat than
the atmosphere. Both the atmosphere and ocean move heat;
the atmosphere does this quickly, the ocean slowly.
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At the ocean's surface, winds drive currents.
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Multiple forces keep the global ocean conveyor belt
or Thermohaline Circulation in
perpetual motion. Below the surface,
deeper currents are driven by differences in density.
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Mixing and upwelling in the ocean, transport
nutrient rich waters to the ocean's surface.
Nutrients sustain biological productivity in the ocean.
Extreme variations in sea surface height and sea surface temperature
affect ocean and atmospheric circulation.
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El Nino and La Nina
occur when changing wind patterns displace
warm and cool water in the equatorial Pacific.
Both have global impacts.
During either of these
events the replacement of cold water by warm water
leads to air temperature swings and changes in humidity.
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This alters weather patterns by steering storms
and rainfall to new locations.
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Shifts in rainfall affect plant growth
and areas impacted by drought.
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When heat is exchanged between the ocean's surface to the
atmosphere, it influences climate. For example,
heat and moisture carried by the Gulf Stream northward bring warmer
temperatures and a moderate climate to Europe.
An eddy is a circular moving body of water that spins
off a main current. Eddies play a major role transporting heat
and nutrients.
Thunderstorms are a frequent
occurrence in the tropics. Some of these may become
organized into large rotating systems with strong winds,
growing into tropical storms or hurricanes.
Tropical ocean basins
like the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico retain
substantial heat making these regions favorable for
rapid storm intensification.
By extracting large amounts of heat
from the ocean, storms can become massive and
destructive hurricanes.
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A driving force for weather and climate,
the ocean is essential to life on Earth.
It is the primary storehouse of Earth's water.
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Without the ocean
our planet would be uninhabitable.
NASA satellites
and their unique view from space are helping
to unveil the vast and largely unexplored
ocean.
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