oceans and currents

Ocean in Motion: Currents - Characteristics

Driven by forces such as wind, tides, and gravity, currents keep our oceans in constant motion. Currents move large amounts of water great distances. Countless currents have been named, but the seven major ones are the West Wind Drift (or the Antarctic Circumpolar Current), East Wind Drift, the North and South Equatorial currents, the Peru Current, the Kuroshio Current and the Gulf Stream. These currents flow in large rotating loops called gyres. In the Northern Hemisphere, gyres spin in a clockwise direction, and in the Southern Hemisphere, gyres spin in a counterclockwise direction. This is because of Earth's spinning rotation and is called the Coriolis Effect.

Large surface currents are mainly driven by winds that blow year round. The winds at the equator are called the northeast and southeast trade winds. At the mid-latitudes, the winds are called the westerlies, and at the highest latitudes, the winds are called the polar easterlies. These winds blow in one direction all year.
Two of the largest currents are the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Kuroshio Current. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, sometimes called the West Wind Drift, circles eastward around Antarctica. The Kuroshio Current, which is located just off Japan's coast, travels up to 75 miles a day at a speed of up to 3 miles per hour.
The Gulf Stream is a current with a strong influence on the East Coast of the United States. Actually, the Gulf Stream is part of a larger current system, which includes the North Atlantic Current, the Canary Current and the North Equatorial Current. From the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, the Gulf Stream flows north through the Straits of Florida and along Florida's East Coast. When it reaches North Carolina, around Cape Hatteras, it begins to drift off into the North Atlantic towards the Grand Banks near Newfoundland. The Gulf Stream usually travels at a speed of 3 or 4 knots.

global warming

What is global warming?

    While some would call global warming a theory, others would call it a proven set of facts. Opinions differ vehemently. Let us consider global warming to be both a premise that the environment of the world as we know it is slowly, but very surely increasing in overall air and water temperature, and a promise that if whatever is causing this trend is not interrupted or challenged life on earth will dynamically be affected.
The prevailing counter opinion is that all that is presently perceived to be global warming is simply the result of a normal climactic swing in the direction of increased temperature. Many proponents of this global warming ideology have definitive social and financial interests in these claims.
Global warming and climate change are aspects of our environment that cannot be easily or quickly discounted. Many factions still strongly feel that the changes our Earth is seeing are the result of a natural climatic adjustment. Regardless of one’s perspective the effects of global warming are  a quantifiable set of environmental results that are in addition to any normal changes in climate. That is why the effects of global warming have catastrophic potential. Global warming may well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It could turn out to be the difference between a category three hurricane and a category four. Global warming as caused by greenhouse gas emissions can lead us to a definite imbalance of nature.
The premise of global warming as an issue of debate is that industrial growth coupled with non-structured methods we as humans use to sustain ourselves has created a situation where our planet is getting progressively hotter. We have seemingly negatively effected our environment by a cycle of harmful processes that now seem to be feeding upon themselves to exponentially increase the damage to our ecosystem.

 

 

Carbon Cycle

The Carbon Cycle is a
complex series of processes through which all of the carbon atoms in existence rotate. The same carbon atoms in your body today have been used in countless other molecules since time began. The wood burned just a few decades ago could have produced carbon dioxide which through photosynthesis became part of a plant. When you eat that plant, the same carbon from the wood which was burnt can become part of you. The carbon cycle is the great natural recycler of carbon atoms. Unfortunately, the extent of its importance is rarely stressed enough. Without the proper functioning of the carbon cycle, every aspect of life could be changed dramatically.
We believe that it's vital to understand how the carbon cycle works in order to see the danger of it not working. Therefore, let's look at a sample carbon cycle and explore how carbon atoms move through our natural world. Plants, animals, and soil interact to make up the basic cycles of nature.

Carbon Cycle: In the carbon cycle, plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it, combined with water they get from the soil, to make the substances they need for growth. The process of photosynthesis incorporates the carbon atoms from carbon dioxide into sugars. Animals, such as the rabbit pictured here, eat the plants and use the carbon to build their own tissues. Other animals, such as the fox, eat the rabbit and then use the carbon for their own needs. These animals return carbon dioxide into the air when they breathe, and when they die, since the carbon is returned to the soil during decomposition. The carbon atoms in soil may then be used in a new plant or small microorganisms. Ultimately, the same carbon atom can move through many organisms and even end in the same place where it began. Herein lies the fascination of the carbon cycle; the same atoms can be recycled for millennia!

Stars: Life and Death (Discovery Channel)

THE LIFE CYCLE OF STARS

Stars are born in nebulae. Huge clouds of dust and gas collapse under gravitational forces, forming protostars. These young stars undergo further collapse, forming main sequence stars.

Stars expand as they grow old. As the core runs out of hydrogen and then helium, the core contacts and the outer layers expand, cool, and become less bright. This is a red giant or a red super giant (depending on the initial mass of the star). It will eventually collapse and explode. Its fate is determined by the original mass of the star; it will become either a black dwarf, neutron star, or black hole.