Right Now: 1- Collect the notes from the front counter Agenda: 2- Notes: Currents and Climate Objectives: I CAN.. I can explain how wind and ocean currents (surface and deep) affect weather and climate.

effect-on-climate.html OCEAN CIRCULATION: PATTERNS AND EFFECTS ON CLIMATE (video length 6:08) We’ll start with a video lesson…

HOW ARE OCEAN CURRENTS AND CLIMATE CONNECTED? Warm-Water Currents create warmer climates in coastal areas that would otherwise be much cooler. Surface currents play an enormous role in Earth’s climate. Even though the Equator and poles have very different climates, these regions would have more extremely different climates if ocean currents did not transfer heat from the equatorial regions to the higher latitudes.

Warm, surface currents help to moderate Earth's temperatures. As surface currents move, they absorb heat in the tropical regions and release it in colder environments near the poles. The Gulf Stream, a major surface current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, illustrates this. Traveling at an average of 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) per hour, it carries warm water up the east coast of North America and flows across the Atlantic Ocean, where it warms the climate of England and Northern Europe.

Cold, deep water currents move very slowly, usually around 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) per second. However, they are responsible for circulating 90 percent of Earth's ocean water. This circulation influences not only weather patterns but the overall health of the oceans. Cold-Water Currents keep climates along a coast cooler than the inland climate year-round.

Deep water currents are set in motion by variations in water density, which is directly related to temperature and salinity, or salt level. Colder, saltier water is heavier than warmer, fresher water. Water near the poles is colder and saltier than water near the equator. This cold water sinks and flows beneath the ocean surface toward the equator, where it is warmed. It then rises to replace the water that surface currents constantly carry toward the poles.

Upwelling is the movement of deep, cold, and nutrient-rich water to the surface of the ocean. The nutrients that are brought to the surface support the growth of plankton. Plankton support larger organisms, such as fish and seabirds.

El Niño is a change in the water temperature in the Pacific Ocean that produces a warm current. Effects of El Niño El Niño alters weather patterns enough to cause disasters, including flash floods, mudslides, and droughts. El Niño also prevents upwelling off the coast of South America. Sometimes El Niño is followed by La Niña. La Niña is a periodic change in the eastern Pacific Ocean in which the surface-water temperature becomes unusually cool and, like El Niño, affects weather patterns.

The Role of Ocean Currents in Climate (Video length 3:48)

PUTTING IT TOGETHER Write in your journal: Explain how wind and ocean currents (surface and deep) affect weather and climate. Write at least 5-7 complete sentences.