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An oceanic (or maritime) climate is typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of all the world's continents, bordering cool oceans, as well as southeastern Australia, and is accompanied by plentiful precipitation year-round. [9]
Since the oceans account for 71% of the Earth's surface area, 86% of evaporation (E) and 78% of precipitation (P) occur over the ocean, the oceanic freshwater fluxes represent a large part of the world's freshwater fluxes. [2] There are five major freshwater fluxes into and out of the ocean, namely: Precipitation; Evaporation; Riverine discharge
Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year: 398,000 cubic kilometres (95,000 cu mi) over oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres (26,000 cu mi) over land. [4]
Over time, the water returns to the ocean, to continue the water cycle. The ocean plays a key role in the water cycle. The ocean holds "97% of the total water on the planet; 78% of global precipitation occurs over the ocean, and it is the source of 86% of global evaporation". [2]
The entire ocean, containing 97% of Earth's water, spans 70.8% of Earth's surface, [8] making it Earth's global ocean or world ocean. [ 23 ] [ 25 ] This makes Earth, along with its vibrant hydrosphere a "water world" [ 43 ] [ 44 ] or " ocean world ", [ 45 ] [ 46 ] particularly in Earth's early history when the ocean is thought to have possibly ...
The five components of the climate system all interact. They are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. [1]: 1451 Earth's climate system is a complex system with five interacting components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things).
Climate classifications are systems that categorize the world's climates. A climate classification may correlate closely with a biome classification, as climate is a major influence on life in a region. One of the most used is the Köppen climate classification scheme first developed in 1899. [21]
The Caribbean coast, eastward from the Gulf of Urabá on the Colombia–Panama border to the Orinoco River delta, on the Atlantic Ocean (about 4,000 km (2,500 mi)), have long dry periods (the extreme is the BWh climate (see below), characterized by very low, unreliable precipitation, present, for instance, in extensive areas in the Guajira, and ...