The ocean influences weather and climate by storing solar radiation, distributing heat and moisture around the globe, and driving weather systems.

Ocean currents can be caused by wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes or storms.

The ocean influences weather and climate by storing solar radiation, distributing heat and moisture around the globe, and driving weather systems. This map of sea surface temperature …

The ocean exploration facts in this section provide short answers to common or intriguing ocean questions. The questions are organized in a series of categories; click on a category to learn …

Critical Thinking Currents are important in marine ecosystems because they redistribute water, heat, nutrients, and oxygen about the ocean. At the same time, currents inevitably sweep over …

management affect what is taken out and put into the ocean. Human development and activity leads to pollution (point source, nonpoint source, and noise pollution), changes to ocean …

At high latitudes, ocean waters receive less sunlight – the poles receive only 40 percent of the heat that the equator does. These variations in solar energy mean that the ocean surface can …

One potential impact of global climate change includes weakening of large-scale ocean circulation, or thermohaline circulation (THC), which plays an important role in transporting …

Information from ocean exploration can help us understand how we are affecting and being affected by changes in Earth’s environment, including changes in weather and climate. …

Because 70% of the Earth’s surface is cov- ered by water, the heating of the ocean’s surface can cause many types of weather to form over the ocean and affect places on land.