Investigation 5
How does the ocean heat
and cool the Earth?
Introduction
Points
|250
You’ve undoubtedly experienced a monsoon. What causes it though? Why is it a seasonal phenomena? Also,
you’ve undoubtedly experienced changing of the seasons, and the differences in daylight hours between Spring,
Summer, and Fall? What about coastal temperatures? Why is it cooler in Coastal California, than it is in
Phoenix, Arizona? The answer is in two parts- A) the ocean, and B) the sun. Today you will be determining
the relationship between these two, and how it affects the global climate.
Objectives
1. To determine how insolation affects climate
2. To determine how the ocean affects climate
3. To introduce appropriate laboratory procedure.
Materials
Large containers
Water
Temperature sensing and measuring devices
Visible Radiation generators
Infrared Radiation generators
Air molecule accelerators
Ice
Before Class
Go online and review the following video prepared by your teacher:
“Climate and the Ocean”
Answer the following questions:
1. What is sun’s role in determining climate? (5pt)
2. What is latitude’s role in determining climate? (5pt)
3. What is pressure’s role in determining climate? (5pt)
4. What is convection’s role in determining climate? (5pt)
Procedure
1. You will be traveling around the room to the various stations, in pairs. At each station, you will record
your observations and a hypothesis to explain what you see. Record them below: (10pt each)
Water cooling and heating:
Heating and cooling with an “atmosphere”
Air heating and cooling
Micro climates
Convection (wet)
Convection (dry)
Heat buffering
Insolation diffusion
2. Did you notice any patterns from the stations above? List them below: (10pt)
3. Write a hypothesis (explanation) that addresses the relationship between large bodies of water, and the
resulting climate. (20pt)
4. What is “micro climate”? What did you observe (in-depth explanation) from any micro climates at the
stations? (20pt)
Study Questions
1. One of the fears of climate change is that the oceans would increase in size significantly. Besides driving
away humans that live in low-lying coastal areas, what other whole-Earth consequences would be produced by
this phenomena? (10pt)
2. Even though Phoenix, Arizona is roughly at the same latitude as LA, California, why is it cooler in Los
Angeles? (10pt)
3. When heating water, what happens to the water? (10pt)
4. What happens to the water vapor alluded to above? What does it “cause”? (20pt)
5. Although both cities are located in the northern hemisphere, why is Phoenix, Arizona considerably warmer
than Bozeman, Montana in the summer time? (10pt)
6. Have you ever seen the movie Waterworld? That movie depicts the future in which the earth is
encompassed by one large ocean. However, in the movie, the weather is depicted as being very warm. Why is
this scientifically inaccurate? (10pt)
7. Look it up, and then draw the Hydrologic Cycle as it pertains to the ocean below: (50pt)