Activity 5

Befor this activity I thought that the ocean currents only moved from north to south and them back again. I was wrong. I knew that the earths rotation (what we call the coriolis effect), and the moons gravitational pull generate the currents but I had no idea how complex these systems are. It appears as if the Atlantic currents are moving in a circular patturn in opposit directions in the north and south. The northern currents are moving in a clockwise direction while the southern currents are moving counter-clockwise(the Trade and Westerly Wind Belts. source: the map on our work sheet 'figure2'). Our continental boundaries deflect the flow, giving it its circular flow. The coriolis effect does not only reffer to our planet but any object that rotates and, has a fluid on it's surface that cannot keep up with this spinning. This does connect to my topic, since greenhouse gases are also moving along with the fluids on the serface of the planet.

Activity 4

After reviewing our data it became clear that overcast or dense cloud cover can prevent a surface from heating at a high or average rate. After 20 minutes the temperature of the soil went from 22 to 22.5 degrees (that is only 1/2 of a degree). At any rate, if our expiriment didn't have cloud cover it mey have risen alot faster (this is evident since other groups had better results).

April Fools?

At the moment it seems that nature is playing April fools. The jet stream appears to be moving south along California and Nevada, than moving west along the center of the U.S., slightly north towards the great lakes. Ocean currents on the west coast are moving south, while on the east coast they are moving toward the U.S.. In the northern region of the east coast they are following the coast north. In other terms we are getting heavy snow in northern Michigan while we are expected to get drizzle today.