may be of interest


http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/New...3?img_id=17484
In the Pacific Ocean around the equator, persistent easterly winds, the
trade winds, blow across the ocean. The strong, steady winds push surface
waters westward, and in fact, the sea surface height in the western Pacific
near Indonesia is about 45 centimetres higher on average than the height in
the eastern Pacific off the coast of Ecuador. The Indonesian waters are also
warmer because as the winds move sun-warmed surface waters away from South
America, colder, deeper ocean water wells up to the surface. Occasionally
the trade winds weaken, and the water piled up in the western Pacific slides
gently back across the Pacific. This pulse of returning warm water is called
a Kelvin wave.

In mid-November 2006, a Kelvin wave was gliding its way across the Pacific
and was captured in this image from the NASA/French Jason-1 satellite, which
measures sea surface height using a laser altimeter. Because warm water
takes up a little more space than cooler water, higher-than-normal sea
surface height indicates warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures. Within
a 10-day period cantered on November 20, 2006, Jason-1 observed elevated sea
surface heights (red) associated with the passage of a Kelvin wave in the
Pacific Ocean. Heights in the eastern equatorial Pacific were about 100
millimetres (4 inches) above normal. These regions contrast with the western
equatorial Pacific, where sea levels were between 50 and 130 millimetres (2
and 5 inches) below normal (blue areas). Along the equator, the red sea
surface heights equate to sea surface temperature departures greater than
one to two degrees Celsius (two to four degrees Fahrenheit).

Persistent breakdowns of the trade winds result in a conveyor belt of Kelvin
waves that deposit warm waters in the eastern Pacific; the resulting build
up of warm water in the usually cool eastern Pacific is the hallmark of El
Niño. A series of these types of events that began in August 2006 have
contributed to the present El Niño condition. El Niño events influence
weather patterns around the globe. The American West, which has been
struggling with drought, often receives more rain during Niño events. But in
south-eastern Australia, Niño may increase the possibility for a severe
summer fire season.

This Jason-1 image shows sea surface height anomalies with the seasonal
cycle (the effects of summer, fall, winter, and spring) and trend removed.
The differences between what the image shows and what is normal for
different times and regions are called anomalies. When oceanographers and
climatologists view these anomalies, they can identify unusual patterns and
can tell how heat storage in the ocean could influence future planetary
climate events.

The U.S. portion of the Jason-1 mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Lab
for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Research on Earth's
oceans using Jason-1 and other space-based capabilities is conducted by
NASA's Science Mission Directorate to better understand and protect our home
planet.

flybywire wrote:

may be of interest

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/New...3?img_id=17484
In the Pacific Ocean around the equator, persistent easterly winds, the
trade winds, blow across the ocean. The strong, steady winds push surface
waters westward,

Impossible.

Weatherlawyer wrote:


flybywire wrote:

may be of interest


http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/New...3?img_id=17484
In the Pacific Ocean around the equator, persistent easterly winds, the
trade winds, blow across the ocean. The strong, steady winds push surface
waters westward,

Impossible.

So winds don't move the water?

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell

Graham P Davis wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
flybywire wrote:

The strong, steady winds push surface waters westward,

Impossible.

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?

They are already attracted to all the bits of the earth that the moon
is attracting them to, except for the bits it is not attracting them
to. (Which bits are fairly often much more attractive.)

One can understand that given the deplorable lack of clarity of thought
on some of these public forae, the *******s, Jarvis (for example) are
allowed to get a contract worth 300 million pounds for their ability to
dodge any blame for the disaster at Potters Bar.

One can understand why the global use of poison gas has been practiced
world wide in acts of genocide from Laos and Japan to Iraq and India.

One can understand how the US and A voted for a chimp and this country
voted for a sock puppet.

One may not quite understand exactly how a material that is easily
compressed and has a mass several times less that that of water (which
is difficult to compress) should be capable of stirring that mass.

Perhaps you can explain?

Weatherlawyer wrote:


Graham P Davis wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
flybywire wrote:

The strong, steady winds push surface waters westward,

Impossible.

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?

They are already attracted to all the bits of the earth that the moon
is attracting them to, except for the bits it is not attracting them
to. (Which bits are fairly often much more attractive.)


One may not quite understand exactly how a material that is easily
compressed and has a mass several times less that that of water (which
is difficult to compress) should be capable of stirring that mass.

Perhaps you can explain?

So waves and swell are a figment of mariners imagination, like mermaids?

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell

Weatherlawyer wrote:

Graham P Davis wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
flybywire wrote:

The strong, steady winds push surface waters westward,

Impossible.

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?


So the wind doesn't explain this.
www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/PzStorm.PDF

or powerful rips whenever there is a strong onshore wind (people had
always mistakenly assumed they were due to undertows being generated by
the surface water being pushed shorewards) or the build up of water in
bays with an onshore wind, or . .

perhaps you're just talking b****cks

Graham
Penzance

On a tatty piece of sub-ether Graham Easterling at
said...

Weatherlawyer wrote:

Graham P Davis wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
flybywire wrote:

The strong, steady winds push surface waters westward,

Impossible.

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?


So the wind doesn't explain this.
www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/PzStorm.PDF

or powerful rips whenever there is a strong onshore wind (people had
always mistakenly assumed they were due to undertows being generated by
the surface water being pushed shorewards) or the build up of water in
bays with an onshore wind, or . .

perhaps you're just talking b****cks

Graham
Penzance



I'd say it was very likely he was. Sounds like he's part of the quiz show
QI's 'general ignorance'...
--
Rob C. Overfield
Hull

Robb C. Overfield wrote:
On a tatty piece of sub-ether Graham Easterling at
said...

Weatherlawyer wrote:

Graham P Davis wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
flybywire wrote:

The strong, steady winds push surface waters westward,

Impossible.

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?

So the wind doesn't explain this.
www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/PzStorm.PDF

or powerful rips whenever there is a strong onshore wind (people had
always mistakenly assumed they were due to undertows being generated by
the surface water being pushed shorewards) or the build up of water in
bays with an onshore wind, or . .

perhaps you're just talking b****cks

I'd say it was very likely he was. Sounds like he's part of the quiz show
QI's 'general ignorance'...

Allow me to repeat from the above:

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?

And beg an answer from the ones who know better than I.

And how is it that seas are responsible for hurricanes rather than the
other way around? And which way does the wind blow in one of them?

It does seem that the answers you want to get are the proclivity of
those you want to ask.

There is a complex atmospheric-ocean interaction.
Try this link as a starting-point.

http://iri.columbia.edu/climate/ENSO/theory/waves.html

It is a simple documented fact that the warmer western parts of the
Pacific along the equatorial line are "higher" than the cooler parts.


Weatherlawyer wrote:
Robb C. Overfield wrote:
On a tatty piece of sub-ether Graham Easterling at
said...

Weatherlawyer wrote:

Graham P Davis wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
flybywire wrote:

The strong, steady winds push surface waters westward,

Impossible.

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?

So the wind doesn't explain this.
www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/PzStorm.PDF

or powerful rips whenever there is a strong onshore wind (people had
always mistakenly assumed they were due to undertows being generated by
the surface water being pushed shorewards) or the build up of water in
bays with an onshore wind, or . .

perhaps you're just talking b****cks

I'd say it was very likely he was. Sounds like he's part of the quiz show
QI's 'general ignorance'...

Allow me to repeat from the above:

So winds don't move the water?

How can they?

And beg an answer from the ones who know better than I.

And how is it that seas are responsible for hurricanes rather than the
other way around? And which way does the wind blow in one of them?

It does seem that the answers you want to get are the proclivity of
those you want to ask.

Weatherlawyer wrote:
Robb C. Overfield wrote:
On a tatty piece of sub-ether Graham Easterling at
said...
Weatherlawyer wrote:

Graham P Davis wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
flybywire wrote:
The strong, steady winds push surface waters westward,

Impossible.
So winds don't move the water?
How can they?
So the wind doesn't explain this.
www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/PzStorm.PDF

or powerful rips whenever there is a strong onshore wind (people had
always mistakenly assumed they were due to undertows being generated by
the surface water being pushed shorewards) or the build up of water in
bays with an onshore wind, or . .

perhaps you're just talking b****cks
I'd say it was very likely he was. Sounds like he's part of the quiz show
QI's 'general ignorance'...

Allow me to repeat from the above:

So winds don't move the water?
How can they?

And beg an answer from the ones who know better than I.

And how is it that seas are responsible for hurricanes rather than the
other way around? And which way does the wind blow in one of them?

It does seem that the answers you want to get are the proclivity of
those you want to ask.

One thing that causes storm surge is air pressure. It is well documented
in maritime almanacs that predicted tides can differ depending on
pressure systems. i.e. tide heights are lower in high pressure and
higher in low pressure systems. Usually can be ignored, but in severe
conditions air pressure has a very pronounced effect, sometimes with
disastrous results. Because water is not compressible, when a force,
such as air pressure is applied, the water will move to an area of less
pressure. Wind, when it meets any object, pressure is modified.
Therefore wind can be termed as pressure in this instance.

Cheers

John DH