Climate Change and General Circulation
Let's do an experiment: what happens to the general circulation, winds, and movement of water and energy when we have more heat energy in the system?
We will consider a simple case of the sea-breeze circulation discussed in 5.4. Note that while this thermal circulation operates on a local scale, it extends to continental scales in the creation of the monsoonal circulations during summer over Asia and N. America.
For our example, we will focus on sea-breezes along the Washington coast. Let's consider a future climate where there is more downward longwave energy to heat the Earth's surface during the summer months. How do you think this would influence the strength of the sea-breeze circulation? How would surface pressure over the North American continent change relative to that over the North Pacific Ocean?
We will consider a simple case of the sea-breeze circulation discussed in 5.4. Note that while this thermal circulation operates on a local scale, it extends to continental scales in the creation of the monsoonal circulations during summer over Asia and N. America.
For our example, we will focus on sea-breezes along the Washington coast. Let's consider a future climate where there is more downward longwave energy to heat the Earth's surface during the summer months. How do you think this would influence the strength of the sea-breeze circulation? How would surface pressure over the North American continent change relative to that over the North Pacific Ocean?