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Earth is the water
planet. Although forty percent of
Earth's population lives within or near
coastal regions, the ocean impacts
people everywhere.
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Most of Earth's water is stored in the ocean -
a driving force for weather
and climate.
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The Earth's surface is warmed unevenly by the sun.
Heat, a form of energy, helps
drive ocean and atmospheric circulation.
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The ocean absorbs and stores more heat than the atmosphere.
Both the atmosphere and ocean move heat;
the atmosphere does this quickly, the ocean
slowly.
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At the ocean's surface, winds drive currents.
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Multiple forces
keep the global ocean conveyor belt or
Thermohaline Circulation in perpetual motion.
Below the surface,
deeper currents are driven by differences in density.
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Mixing and upwelling in
the ocean, transport nutrient rich waters
to the ocean's surface. Nutrients
sustain biological productivity in the ocean.
Extreme variations in
sea surface height and sea surface temperature
affect ocean and atmospheric circulation.
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El Nino and La Nina
occur when changing wind patterns displace
warm and cool water in the equatorial Pacific.
Both have global
impacts.
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During either of these events the replacement of cold water
by warm water leads to air temperature swings and
changes in humidity.
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This alters weather patterns by steering storms
and rainfall to new locations.
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Shifts in rainfall affect plant growth
and areas impacted by drought.
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When heat is exchanged between the ocean's surface
to the atmosphere, it influences climate.
For example, heat and moisture
carried by the Gulf Stream northward bring
warmer temperatures and a moderate climate to Europe.
An eddy is a circular
moving body of water that spins off a main current.
Eddies play a major role transporting
heat and nutrients.
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Thunderstorms are a frequent occurrence
in the tropics. Some of these may become
organized into large rotating systems with strong
winds, growing into tropical storms or hurricanes.
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Tropical ocean basins like the
Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico retain
substantial heat making these regions favorable for
rapid storm intensification.
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By extracting large amounts of heat
from the ocean, storms can become
massive and destructive hurricanes.
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A driving force
for weather and climate,
the ocean is essential to life on Earth.
It is the primary storehouse of Earth's water.
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Without the ocean our planet would be
uninhabitable.
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NASA satellites and their unique
view from space are helping to unveil the
vast and largely unexplored
ocean.
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Beeping