文档介绍：4
Ocean’s role in climate
General introduction to ocean physics
Ocean current
Air-sea interaction
Climatic influence
Thermohaline circulation
The water molecule has a number of unusual properties. One of these is that it has a very high heat capacity. Heat capacity is the amount of heat that must be put into one gram of a material in order to raise its temperature by one degree Celsius. Similarly, we might think of it as the amount of heat that escapes from one gram of a material when it cools by one degree Celsius. As its name implies, the heat capacity is a measure of the ability of a material to store heat energy when its temperature is raised and to release that same amount of heat energy when it cools.
Because of its high heat capacity, the water in the world oceans is an enormous reservoir for thermal energy. It serves to temper world climate, absorbing heat from the Sun in the tropics and redistributing it to more northerly regions via the great ocean currents. For this reason, the Gulf Stream is able to bring its warmth thousands of kilometers from the tropics to the European shores before cooling to the temperatures of Arctic waters.
Contrariwise, regions in warm latitudes that are visited by cold ocean currents enjoy a natural form of air conditioning. The delightful climate of the seacoast of California is due to this effect. The circum-Antarctic current travels from west to east, completely encircling the continent of Antarctica with a cold current and forming a partial barrier to the transfer of heat from lower latitudes to the frigid Antarctic landmass.
海洋: 巨大的热机