How do oceans control weather and climate

Arab weather - the oceans cover about 70% of the Earth’s surface, and their presence is important not only as a habitat for marine life, as the oceans play a major role in influencing the Earth’s environment and climate. There is a great relationship between the oceans and the atmosphere, and studying this relationship is important to understanding the behavior of the atmosphere Meteorological and weather forecasting and climate.

Here are some of the ways oceans affect weather and climate:

Heat distribution throughout the earth

One of the biggest roles of the oceans is to absorb energy (heat) and distribute it evenly throughout the Earth . It forms and takes this heat and distributes it around the planet, where some of these ocean currents carry heat for thousands of kilometers, before releasing much of it back into the atmosphere .

(heat transfer through ocean currents)

Heat storage and release

This is due to the specific heat of water, such that the oceans warm and cool more slowly than the air in the atmosphere, so coastal weather tends to be milder than continental weather, and there is not much variation in temperature between hot and cold periods.

It contributes to the formation of most rain clouds

Evaporation from the oceans, especially in the tropics, causes most rain clouds to appear, affecting the distribution of wet and dry areas on Earth.

Severe storm formation

The massive amount of energy captured by the ocean creates the world's most powerful storms and destructive events, and extreme events such as tropical and subtropical cyclones.

Contribute to the mitigation of global warming

By absorbing much of the carbon dioxide on Earth, the oceans help mitigate its impact as a greenhouse gas, and the oceans store more than 90% of the excess heat trapped on Earth by carbon emissions from human activities, with only about 2.3% working. Some of the heat warms the atmosphere, while the remaining heat melts snow and ice and warms the Earth, so the atmosphere is warming less quickly than it otherwise would.

However, this should not lead us to fail to act to protect the Earth from the phenomenon of warming , because the warming of the oceans not only delays the full impact of climate change, but it also harms the oceans, and the most important damages of excess heat in the oceans are:

1. Excess heat contributes to sea level rise due to thermal expansion of water.
2. It causes a decrease in the amount of dissolved oxygen in the ocean waters.
3. lead to the melting of sea ice.
4. The occurrence of marine heat waves.
5. Coral bleaching.
6. Transforming the marine environment into an environment unfavorable to the life of marine organisms.
7. It is certain that much of this heat absorbed by the oceans will eventually flow into the atmosphere over the coming centuries.

(The figure shows the sea level rise from 1993 to 2020)

Analyze data to understand the multiple interactions between the oceans and the atmosphere

Because of the large role the oceans play in influencing weather and climate, forecasters use data measured from the oceans, understanding how the multiple interactions between the oceans and the atmosphere, the influence of seasonal and long-term climate patterns, and ocean patterns, as well as To monitor basic weather elements: atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, atmospheric pressure, wind, waves, precipitation and other variables, these data sets together become key inputs into numerical weather models used in weather and climate forecasting.

Therefore, the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) is interested in supporting observations, research and services related to the oceans, and the oceans and their relationship to climate and weather were chosen as the theme for World Meteorological Day in 2021.