Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Open ocean convection is a process in which the mesoscale ocean circulation and large, strong winds mix layers of water at different depths. Fresher water lying over the saltier or warmer over the colder leads to the stratification of water, or its separation into layers. Strong winds cause evaporation, so the ocean surface cools, weakening the ...
The ocean absorbs part of the energy from sunlight as heat and is initially absorbed by the surface. [13] Eventually a part of this heat also spreads to deeper water. Greenhouse gases absorb extra energy from the sun, which is again absorbed by the oceans, leading to an increase in the amount of heat stored by the oceans. The increase of ...
Buoyancy-forced downwelling, often termed convection, is the deepening of a water parcel due to a change in the density of that parcel.Density changes in the surface ocean are primarily the result of evaporation, precipitation, heating, cooling, or the introduction and mixing of an alternate water or salinity source, such as river input or brine rejection.
The mixed layer plays an important role in the physical climate. Because the specific heat of ocean water is much larger than that of air, the top 2.5 m of the ocean holds as much heat as the entire atmosphere above it. Thus the heat required to change a mixed layer of 2.5 m by 1 °C would be sufficient to raise the temperature of the ...
Marine energy, also known as ocean energy, ocean power, or marine and hydrokinetic energy, refers to energy harnessed from waves, tides, salinity gradients, and temperature differences in the ocean. The movement of water in the world's oceans stores vast amounts of kinetic energy , which can be converted into electricity to power homes ...
In fluid dynamics, convective mixing is the vertical transport of a fluid and its properties. In many important ocean and atmospheric phenomena, convection is driven by density differences in the fluid, e.g. the sinking of cold, dense water in polar regions of the world's oceans; and the rising of warm, less-dense air during the formation of cumulonimbus clouds and hurricanes.
Idealised depiction (at equinox) of large-scale atmospheric circulation on Earth Long-term mean precipitation by month. Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air and together with ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of the Earth. The Earth's atmospheric circulation varies from ...
Natural convection is a flow whose motion is caused by some parts of a fluid being heavier than other parts. In most cases this leads to natural circulation: the ability of a fluid in a system to circulate continuously under gravity, with transfer of heat energy. The driving force for natural convection is gravity.