Weather Whys; Earth's Surface

This is weather-wise, we may think of weather in terms of the fluctuations and disturbances of the atmosphere we see every day, but the weather in the atmosphere is directly affected by what's right below it, the surface of the earth, and 70% of that is covered by water. So as you'd expect, the oceans have a strong influence on the weather, but it's the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun that causes the weather. The spherical shape of the planet allows it to receive a lot more solar energy at the equator than at the poles, and the tilt of the earth on its axis allows for the maximum distribution of that heat between the hemispheres. In effect, the weather is a mechanism by which the atmosphere transports excess heat energy from the equator to the poles. The ocean supports a lot of that heat distribution. In the northern hemisphere, for instance, northward moving currents like the Gulf Stream move a great deal of warm water toward polar regions. And the major currents are fed by smaller whirls called eddies, which can be compared somewhat

to storms in the atmosphere. Like storms, eddies accomplish the majority of the energy distribution, but they usually last much longer than storms and don't move around as much. There are a number of factors that affect the way the ocean transfers that energy. For instance, differences in salt content can have an impact, but the main driving force is the incessant push toward equilibrium in the face of uneven surface heating. Weather-wise is produced with the assistance of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, the Oklahoma Climateological Survey, and the School of Meteorology, all at the University of Oklahoma, and is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Our writer is Christine Harbour, our editor is Brian Walkie, and our executive producer is Karen Hope. Well, weather-wise, I'm Drew Barlow.