Why is the water at the equator so warm?

The ocean receives most of its heat along the equator, where incoming solar radiation is about double that received at the poles. Hence, sea surfaces are much warmer along the equator than at the poles.

Why is the water at the equator slightly cooler than the surrounding water?

Think of cold currents as currents moving toward the Equator. These waters are colder than the water they are moving into. A warm current is moving away from the Equator toward the poles. The water in a warm current is warmer than the surrounding water.

What is the water temperature at the equator?

At high latitudes, ocean waters receive less sunlight – the poles receive only 40 percent of the heat that the equator does. These variations in solar energy mean that the ocean surface can vary in temperature from a warm 30°C (86°F) in the tropics to a very cold -2°C (28°F) near the poles.

How hot is it at the equator?

Average annual temperatures in equatorial lowlands are around 31 °C (88 °F) during the afternoon and 23 °C (73 °F) around sunrise. Rainfall is very high away from cold ocean current upwelling zones, from 2,500 to 3,500 mm (100 to 140 in) per year.

Why are climates located farther from the equator cooler than those to the equator?

The sun shines directly at the equator, heating the atmosphere there and causing temperatures at the equator to be very warm. The further a location is from the equator, the less sunlight that location receives to heat the atmosphere and thus, the temperature is colder.

Where is warmest ocean water?

The Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean has the warmest temperatures of the world’s oceans. Ocean water temperature is important to understand, as it affects global climate and marine ecosystems. The Indian Ocean is the warmest in the world.

Why is sea water warmer at night?

Why does the sea feel warmer at night? Water loses and gains heat at a slower rate than the air does, so, at night, the water cools at a slower rate than the surrounding air and so feels warmer by comparison.

What causes ocean water around the equator to be warmer than ocean water farther south of the equator?

Why is it warmer in the summer than in the winter?

During the summer, the sun’s rays hit the Earth at a steep angle. Also, the long daylight hours allow the Earth plenty of time to reach warm temperatures. During the winter, the sun’s rays hit the Earth at a shallow angle. These rays are more spread out, which minimizes the amount of energy that hits any given spot.

Why is Pacific warmer than Atlantic?

However, the Pacific ocean is warmer as a whole than the Pacific because it is wider at the equator. The water has more time to travel along the equator and heat up before it moves to the poles compared to water in the Atlantic ocean.

Why is the average temperature of the ocean so low?

This has to do with the pattern of surface currents, as described in section 9.1. Even though surface water can be quite warm, most of the water in the oceans is deeper, colder water, so that the average temperature of the entire ocean is about 4 o C, which is roughly the temperature inside your refrigerator.

What is the climate like at the equator?

A large portion of those seas are shallow and saddle the equator. As a result, sea-surface temperatures remain very warm (>28 °C) the whole year, but water salinities vary greatly as a result of seasonal monsoonal activity and fluxes from large rivers.

Is water warmer at the surface or at the bottom?

Water is warmest at the surface, as it is warmed by the sun, and the sun’s rays can only penetrate depths less than 1000 m ( section 6.5 ). Since the surface water is warmer it is also less dense than the deep water ( section 6.3 ), so it remains at the surface where it can be warmed even more.

How does the water temperature change at different latitudes?

There is rapid temperature change near the surface in the thermocline zone, but the deep water temperature is fairly stable (eWOCE, http://www.ewoce.org/gallery/eWOCE_Tables.html#Atlantic). Temperature profiles vary at different latitudes, as the surface water is warmer near the equator and colder at the poles.