Transcript Physical Geography

Wind And Ocean Currents
By: Sean Meisner, Amanda Onwukwe, Arrian Bolden
Pd:2nd
What Is Wind?
 Wind: Is air moving across the surface of the
Earth
 Wind occurs because sunlight heats the
earth’s atmosphere and surface unevenly.
How Does It Affect Weather?
 Warm temperature causes air to rise, which
creates areas of low pressure (Mountains)
 Cool temperatures cause air to sink, which
creates areas of high pressure. (Oceans)
How Does It Affect Weather Cont.
 Wind & water work together to affect
weather in an important way. One way is
Condensation, (caused by temperature) which
creates precipitation that then creates many
different types of weather’s like rain, sleet,
hail, or snow.
 One big factor is called the El Nino
phenomenon.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_
detailpage&v=WPA-KpldDVc
 El Nino – What Is It? (Met Office)
Ocean Currents
 Ocean currents are caused be wind moving
across the surface of the sea.
 Ocean currents as well as wind distribute the
sun’s energy around the earth
Ocean Currents Cont.
 Cold ocean currents travel toward the
equator and warm ocean currents travel
toward the polar regions
Prevailing Winds
 Is what you call winds blowing because of
pressure differences; (warm air moving
towards the poles and cool air moving to the
equator) which creates winds that blow in a
semi-constant patterns.

*The direction of these winds depend on the
earth’s movement & latitude
Coriolis Effect
 This effect causes prevailing winds to blow
diagonally across the earth. This means that
as the earth rotates, prevailing winds blowing
in the Northern Hemisphere are deflected to
the right and to the left in the Southern
Hemisphere.
What Are Winds Called?
 Trade Winds: Named for their ability to move
trade ships, trade winds blow northeast
toward the equator (latitude 30 degrees
north) and southeast toward the equator
(latitude 30 degrees south)
 Westerlies: Are prevailing winds blowing
diagonally east to west between 30N,60N and
30S and 60S
 Polar Easterlies: Blow diagonally east to west,
pushing cold air towards the midlatitudes
Doldrums
Near the equator the
Trade Winds subside as
the warm air rises. The
rising leaves a narrow,
windless band called the
doldrums.
Wind in Relation to Landforms
 Windward: When the landform is facing the
direction the wind is blowing. (cooler, wetter
side)
 Leeward: When the landform is facing away
from the direction of the wind. (warmer, drier
side)
 Rain Shadow: When hot, dry air makes no
precipitation which causes dry areas or even
deserts to form on the leeward sides of
mountains
Picture URL’s
 http://www.sturdyforcommonthings.com/wp
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content/uploads/2013/03/wind_blowing.jpg
http://www.geography4kids.com/files/art/atm_circ2_240x180.gi
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hhttp://www.myfreetextures.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/11/blue-ocean-waves.jpg
ttp://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/images/basiccurrents.j
pg
https://geogermanykat.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/wor_them_
winds.jpg
http://images.flatworldknowledge.com/wrench/wrenchfig15_001.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/
Rain_shadow_no_text.svg/500px-Rain_shadow_no_text.svg.png