Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - The 24 Solar Terms - Why is the ocean a climate regulator?

Why is the ocean a climate regulator?

Seawater is a transparent liquid, and solar radiation can spread to deeper places, so that a fairly thick water layer stores heat. If the global surface seawater with a thickness of 100 m cools 1℃, the heat released by it can raise the global atmosphere by 60℃. Therefore, a large amount of heat energy accumulated in the ocean for a long time has become a huge "boiler", which can continuously affect the changes of weather and climate through energy transfer. The water vapor in the atmosphere mainly comes from the ocean. This is because when seawater evaporates, it will bring a lot of water vapor from the ocean into the atmosphere, accounting for about 84% of the total evaporation. The thermal state and evaporation of the ocean greatly affect the content and distribution of heat and water vapor in the atmosphere. Among them, ocean currents are the most important. The ocean plays a key role in climate regulator. If there were no ocean currents, the climate regulator would not work so well. Because the solar radiation in the equatorial region is very strong all year round, the solar radiation in the polar region is very weak all year round. However, due to the continuous flow of ocean currents, the excess heat in the equatorial and tropical regions is continuously sent to the high latitude and polar sea areas, where it radiates, and the sea areas with cold climate can indirectly enjoy the warmth of the sun. If the ocean is compared to a climate regulator, then ocean current is the transport pipeline of the regulator.