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Wind-Driven Circulation WindWind--DrivenDriven OceanOcean CirculationCirculation WhatWhat DrivesDrives CirculationCirculation ofof UpperUpper Ocean?Ocean? ShortShort answer:answer: EnergyEnergy fromfrom thethe SunSun andand Earth’sEarth’s rotationrotation AtmosphericAtmospheric circulationcirculation onon anan idealizedidealized nonnon--rotatingrotating EarthEarth Hadley cell H EnergyEnergy fromfrom SunSun w causescauses differentialdifferential lo f e c heating of ocean a heating of ocean f r u S andand atmosphereatmosphere Equator L L L H Hadley cell CoriolisCoriolis EffectEffect Maximum apparent rotation 60o 30o ArisesArises fromfrom motionmotion onon aa 830 km/h rotatingrotating earthearth 1450 o 0 km/h 1670 DependsDepends onon observer’sobserver’s km/h Equator frameframe ofof referencereference 1450 30o km/h CoriolisCoriolis ForceForce From space, we see that it arises from the conservation of momentum as the earth rotates under a moving object a= initial north or south wind a= initial north or south wind velocity velocity of poleward moving air moving toward the equator b= initial eastward velocity minus the b= initial eastward velocity minus the eastward velocity of the earth at a eastward velocity of the earth at a lower higher latitude latitude c= resultant velocity of the wind c= resultant velocity of the wind CoriolisCoriolis ForceForce Magnitude:Magnitude: F/mF/m == 22Ω sinsin∅ vv Where:Where: 22 Ω isis earth’searth’s rotationalrotational velocityvelocity (constant)(constant) ∅ isis latitude,latitude, andand vv isis velocityvelocity ofof thethe object.object. Direction:Direction: RightRight inin thethe NorthernNorthern HemisphereHemisphere Initial direction LeftLeft inin thethe SouthernSouthern HemisphereHemisphere Resultant direction AtmosphericAtmospheric circulationcirculation onon anan idealizedidealized rotatingrotating earthearth (with(with CoriolisCoriolis Effect)Effect) Polar easterlies 60o Subpolar low Westerlies 30o Subtropical high NE trade winds 0o 30o SE trade winds Subtropical high Westerlies Subpolar low 60o Polar easterlies Climatic Zones Vertical Circulation AtmosphericAtmospheric POLAR EASTERLIES Earth’s Rotation Air sinks POLAR Air rises: circulationcirculation andand Polar front persistent cloudiness SUBPOLAR 60oN Low source of PF source of TEMPERATE Westerlies Air sinks: clear SUBTROPICAL skies, low planetaryplanetary windswinds o High “Horse Latitudes” 30 N rainfall Northeasterly Trades Air rises: ITCZ persistent EQUATORIAL 0o cloudiness and “Doldrums” rain Southeasterly Trades 30oS High Air sinks: clear SUBTROPICAL skies, low “Horse Latitudes” rainfall TEMPERATE Westerlies ITCZ Intertropical SUBPOLAR Air rises: AF convergence Antarctic front persistent zone cloudiness POLAR PF Polar Front Antarctica Air sinks AF Antarctic Front TheThe weatherweather patternspatterns ofof TemperateTemperate RegionsRegions 8080 80Polar 80 80Polar 80 70 70 70 70 70 70 60 60 60 60 Subpolar 50 50 50 50 Temperate Temperate 40 40 40 40 40 40 Subtropical 30 Subtropical 30 Tropical Tropical Equatorial Monsoon 50 60 70 80 90 120 140 160 180 160 140 120 100 90 50 40 30 20 10 0 Equatorial Tropical Tropical Tropical Subtropical 30 30 30 Subtropical Subtropical 40 40 40 40 40 Temperate Temperate 50 50 50Temperate 50 50 50 Subpolar Subpolar 60 60 60 Subpolar 60 60 60 Polar 70 70 70Polar 70 70 70 80 80 80 80 80 80 AtmosphericAtmospheric PressurePressure SystemsSystems LandLand massesmasses heatheat inin summersummer andand coolcool inin winterwinter fasterfaster thanthan ocean,ocean, becausebecause landland hashas lowerlower heatheat capacitycapacity thanthan waterwater ThisThis leadsleads toto seasonalseasonal effects:effects: formationformation ofof coldcold highhigh pressurepressure systemssystems overover continentscontinents inin winterwinter andand warmwarm lowlow pressurepressure systemssystems overover continentscontinents inin summersummer AtmosphericAtmospheric PressurePressure Systems:Systems: NorthernNorthern HemisphereHemisphere WinterWinter 90 180 90180 90 1020 1026 Icelandic low 1020 Siberian 60 L 60 High 1002 996 1026 1032 L Aleutian low 1002 H H 1020 1008 H 1014 1008 Bermuda High 30 1020 1020 H 30 1014 H Pacific High 1014 1008 0 1008 ITCZ 0 Latitude 1008 L L 1014 L 1014 1020 30 1020 1014 30 H H 1020 H H 1014 1008 60 1002 60 996 90 180 90 180 90 Longitude AtmosphericAtmospheric PressurePressure Systems:Systems: NorthernNorthern HemisphereHemisphere SummerSummer 90 180 90 180 90 1008 Icelandic low L 1008 60 1008 60 Pacific high 1014 Thermal low 1002 H 1020 L L L 1026 H 30 30 1020 ITCZ 1014 0 1014 0 Latitude 1014 1020 1020 1020 H 30 H H 1026 30 H 1014 1008 60 60 1002 996 990 90 180 90 180 Longitude 90 HighHigh andand LowLow PressurePressure Cells:Cells: GeostrophicGeostrophic BalanceBalance Falling air Coriolis force Rising air effect Northern A Hemisphere B UndulationsUndulations inin thethe JetJet StreamStream andand PolarPolar FrontFront North Pole Easterlies 60o 60o Jet Stream Upper Cold 30o Westerlies 30o Air Warm air Equator Warm winds LHLow High Jet Stream AtmosphericAtmospheric PressurePressure Systems:Systems: NorthernNorthern HemisphereHemisphere SummerSummer 90 180 90 180 90 1008 Icelandic low L 1008 60 1008 60 Pacific high 1014 Thermal low 1002 H 1020 L L L 1026 H 30 30 1020 ITCZ 1014 0 1014 0 Latitude 1014 1020 1020 1020 H 30 H H 1026 30 H 1014 1008 60 60 1002 996 990 90 180 90 180 Longitude 90 HighHigh andand LowLow PressurePressure Cells:Cells: GeostrophicGeostrophic BalanceBalance Falling air Coriolis force Rising air effect Northern A Hemisphere B UndulationsUndulations inin thethe JetJet StreamStream andand PolarPolar FrontFront North Pole Easterlies 60o 60o Jet Stream Upper Cold 30o Westerlies 30o Air Warm air Equator Warm winds LHLow High Jet Stream InvasionInvasion ofof temperatetemperate regionsregions byby warmwarm tropicaltropical airair massesmasses fromfrom thethe southsouth andand coldcold polarpolar airair massesmasses fromfrom thethe northnorth cP mP mP cP cT mT mT CyclogenesisCyclogenesis H L Cold L Warm Warm sector H N mT (a) (b) (c) L L L Warm (d) (e) (f) CyclogenesisCyclogenesis offoff CapeCape HatterasHatteras Iceland L Low 3 H H Low 1 L L H Bermuda high Low 2 BlizzardBlizzard ofof ‘96‘96 CouplingCoupling ofof thethe PlanetaryPlanetary WindWind FieldField withwith OceanOcean CirculationCirculation TheThe EkmanEkman SpiralSpiral Wind Wind UpperUpper layer:layer: ForceForce direction direction 45o Surface current fromfrom windwind shearshear 45o balancedbalanced byby CoriolisCoriolis Direction of net water transport forceforce andand frictionfriction 90o Northern Hemisphere (viscosity)(viscosity) fromfrom Spiraling currents underlyingunderlying layerslayers Direction of net water transport averaged over depth of spiral SurfaceSurface transport:transport: No water motion Southern Hemisphere 4545o toto rightright ofof windwind ViscosityViscosity transferstransfers momentummomentum betweenbetween layers;layers; exponentialexponential declinedecline inin speedspeed withwith depthdepth duedue toto frictionalfrictional energyenergy losseslosses NetNet EkmanEkman transporttransport 9090o toto windwind EkmanEkman transporttransport cancan bebe usedused toto spinspin upup anan idealizedidealized modelmodel oceanocean WaterWater isis piledpiled upup untiluntil forcesforces areare balancedbalanced inin anan oceanocean withwith steadysteady--statestate circulationcirculation ((GeostrophicGeostrophic Balance)Balance) SubtropicalSubtropical Gyre:Gyre: CirculationCirculation inin GeostrophicGeostrophic BalanceBalance Path of ideal geostrophic flow oriolis Path of actual C ravity geostrophic flow G Geostrophic flow A West East 60o y Northern erl ds est in Hemisphere W W Subtropical Gyre Flow toFlow South Apex 30o Flow to Flow North e rad s T ind W B 0o DynamicDynamic topographytopography ofof seasea surfacesurface asas measuredmeasured fromfrom spacespace byby satellitesatellite altimetersaltimeters (TOPEX(TOPEX Poseidon)Poseidon) GulfGulf StreamStream inin thethe NorthNorth AtlanticAtlantic GulfGulf StreamStream RingsRings Gran d B Continental Shelf anks Woods Hole Cape Hatteras Warm-Core Slope Water Ring G u eam lf Str Cold-Core m Ring ea tr S Miami lf u G Bermuda C Bahama U B Islands A Sargasso Sea ConvergenceConvergence andand DivergenceDivergence ZonesZones ConvergenceConvergence ---- DownwellingDownwelling DivergenceDivergence ---- UpwellingUpwelling CURRENTS TRANSPORTS WINDS Westerlies 30oN convergence 20o North Equatorial NE Current Trade Winds 10o divergence Equatorial Doldrums Counter-current convergence 0o South Equatorial Equatorial SE Trade Current divergence 10o Winds o 20 convergence EquatorialEquatorial UpwellingUpwelling 30oS Westerlies Equatorial North Equatorial Counter-- Current current South Equatorial Current Equatorial divergence 0 W W E W W 50 W 100 Depth (m)Depth W W 150 Thermocline 200 o o o o o o o 25 N 20o 15 10o 5 0o 5 10 15 20 25oS Latitude CoastalCoastal UpwellingUpwelling.
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