Local & Global Winds and
Ocean Currents
Name: ________________________________________
Section: __________
Team Members:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
1. What is the cause of wind?
* How is wind and air pressure related? How is wind and air temperature related?
* How is wind measured? (name three instruments)
* What is wind power and how does it work to generate electricity?
2. What are some examples of daily and seasonal wind variations?
* When do daily land breezes and sea breezes occur (daytime or nighttime)?
* How does temperature and air pressure affect land and sea breezes?
* How do seasonal winds, in the form of monsoons, affect precipitation?
3. How do local winds and global differ?
* What are the major global wind belts and where are they located?
*What is the Jet Stream and how does it affect plane travel in the USA?
* What is the Coriolis Effect and how is it different in opposite hemispheres?
* Why does precipitation vary on the windward and leeward sides of a mountain?
4. What causes ocean currents?
* What are the four oceans of the world?
* What percentage of the Earth is covered by salty seawater?
* How do surface currents move around the world?
* What causes deep ocean currents and how does upwelling influence ocean
currents (explain El Nino and La Nina)
* What is salinity? How does salinity affect the convection currents in the
oceans?
Vocabulary Words:
Wind, Anemometer, Local Winds, Global Winds, Coriolis effect, Latitude
Land breeze, Sea breeze, Jet stream, Ocean currents, El Nino, La Nina, Upwelling,
Salinity, Windward, Leeward