Zahnae Aquino
Period 3
1/16/2013
“Climate Connections Part 1: Qualitative Analysis”
Weekly Sea Temperature:
Monthly Ocean Wind Speed Vectors:
Analysis
What clues helped you decide how the ocean water is moving?
The direction of the wind and the temperature distribution of the surface temperature helped me
determine how the ocean water is moving.
How is this ocean water movement helping even out the Sun’s uneven heating of the Earth?
Moving water is able to transport heat from the Sun around the planet by moving warm and cold masses
of water—which evidently affects the climate.
What drives the surface currents in ocean basins?
The wind is what drives the surface currents in ocean basins.
Fishing is good where upwelling (cold, nutrient-rich water rising to the surface) occurs. Where do you
predict the fishing will be good due to upwelling? Explain your reasoning.
I predict that fishing will be good due to upwelling along the southern part of Australia. The temperatures
here are cooler and upwelling allows cold, nutrient-rich water to rise to the surface.
Extension:
Why do the west coasts of the continents have colder water than the corresponding east coastal latitudes?
Maps used:
1a. West Coast of North America
1b. East Coast of North America
2a. West Coast of South America
2b. East Coast of South America
3a. West Coast of Africa
3b. East Coast of Africa
1a. West Coast of
N. America
1b. East Coast of N.
America
2a. West Coast of S.
America
2b. East Coast of S.
America
3a. West Coast of
Africa
3b. East Coast of
Africa
All of these plots were taken around the same time frame.
Analysis:
 Based on the data shown from the N. America and S. America plots, we can assume that this was
an El Nino Year.

The North American plot shows how it gradually became warmer the further south the data went
in Figure 1a, but in 1b there was an abrupt change to relatively much warmer temperatures at
37°N. To compare this further, I would like to see a plot showing wind direction so I can
correlate the movement of warm and cool bodies of water to these temperatures.

Because this data was based in an El Nino year, the amount of deep red in the S. America plots is
expected. Although both plots seem to reach the same SST at 50°S, the west coast is seen to cool
down a bit sooner than the east coast when comparing the corresponding latitudes.

When looking at the plots of Africa, we see a much different set of data. On the west coast at 0°N,
we see a deep and fairly consistent red. Yet when comparing it to the corresponding latitude of
the east coast, that red is sparser and we see more hints of other colors (yellow, green). This is a
different pattern than what was demonstrated by the other two continents.