It's All Connected

In class we learned a lot about wind patterns and currents. Wind patterns greatly influence the currents in Oceans. The reason is because the wind pushes up against the water and constantly pushes the waves in that direction. Because of this, water is constantly moving on the Earth. For instance, Water off the shore of California is usually a lot colder because it is being pushed from up towards Alaska toward the equator. And water from the Equator is pushed either NE or it is pushed down south. It is warmer on the equator because of the angle the sun light hits it. It is stronger there than any other part of the globe. The air from towards the equator brings a lot of moisture and heat. If a hurricane were to pick up a message in a bottle off the coast it could also affect where it would end up. The warm water coming from towards the equator brings dolphins/sharks and other tropical sealife and when the water goes back out towards the equator it probably picks up a lot of human waste which is unfortunate. I am happy that there is international law over what we throw out in the ocean, because if it were only local law, we would still be getting affected by the choices of a country across the globe. We should try and dispose waste in space instead of the ocean, because the oceans are limited but as far as we know space has literally infinite space.

Which Way the Winds Blow

 

Which Way The Winds Blow

Earth, as we scientists know, is heated unevenly.  This is due to the fact that the Earth is a sphere. Also, Earth is tilted about 23 degrees.  Therefore, light rays are hitting different places at different strengths.  Near the equator, the temperature is very warm and humid, but at the poles, the weather is mostly frigid cold.  This is due to light rays.  Angled light rays are weaker rays that their paths are changed because of clouds and also being reflected off of Earth.  However, straight light rays are stronger and they make places warmer.  What I learned from the "Global Wind Patterns" activity is that light rays are affected due to clouds and the Earth reflecting light.

Earth's rotation affects the movement of air and water masses.  This happens because of the Coriolis affect.  The Coriolis affect is the deflection of moving objects.  We did an activity where we placed water on a spinner and as it spun, the water spun off the paper and made a spiral design.  It showed me that the Coriolis affect makes the water displace to different locations.

Global wind patterns are divided into several sections.  Polar easterlies are at about 60-90 degrees, and they blow irregularly from the east and the north.  Westerlies are at about 30-60 degrees and they blow from the north and from the west.  Horse Latitudes are where the westerlies meet trade winds at about 30 degrees.  This region has a lot of high pressure and it is extra dry.  Lastly, trade winds are about 30 degrees south and they blow from the northeast towards the equator.

LOGGER HEAD ISLAND REPORT

On the side of the island with the sea turtle nesting we needed to consider the precautions of the public being a disturbance, and we also needed relocate the police and fire station on one side of it and the research center on the other for patrol. We made a timer on the street lights so that they do not disturb the nesting. We placed our fishing dock on the lagoon side of the island because its calm  and peaceful over there and lots of fish will stay over there.Our golf course could be flooded by the oceanic side of the island but its close tot he lagoon as well so it may not have any issues. We placed a large netting around the sides so that the golf balls don't enter the ocean. The economic benefits are the public housing is mostly on the lagoon side away from the economic stuff. Humans negatively impact the coastal ecosystems with there rowdiness, pollution, and the electricity distributed around the streets. With healthy vegetation and economy we can severely prevent the issues of storms starting. Our stop lights were solar powered.