As science goes there is never one view deemed as gospel. Although more scientists believe that global warming is real than not, others believe it is impossible to tell how it will alter the weather. Some scientist believe that global warming will continue to have a relatively little impact on the day-to-day climate conditions. Others believe that future changes will likely be subtle, and they will spread over large areas of the globe from decade to decade and creep up on us like old age. While others yet hypothesize that when the Earth's surface temperatures reaches some critical threshold, the heat will trigger relatively drastic changes to the atmosphere and the oceans and transform the Earth's weather patterns in a matter of years. (Weiler,2002)
Climate Zones and prevailing winds and ocean temperatures
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (lead researcher, Jack Williams) collaborated with Stephen Jackson at the University of Wyoming (with funding from the National Science Foundation), used climate models and greenhouse gas emission scenarios from the recent assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to forecast differences between climate zones today and in the year 2100. This study projects that many climate zones of today will disappear by the year 2100, and will be replaced by unknown climates. The climates zones forecasted to disappear include those in tropical mountains and high latitude areas near the poles. The climate model study uses average summer and winter temperature and precipitation levels to map differences between climate zones today and the projected in year 2100 and large climate changes worldwide are anticipated. It is believed that the most severely effected areas will span in heavily populated regions including Southeast United States, Southeast Asia and parts of Africa. The study also shows drastic ecological shifts. (Sakia, 2007)
The prevailing wind is the wind that blows most frequently across a particularly region. Different regions on Earth have different prevailing wind directions which are dependent upon the nature of the general circulation of the atmosphere and the latitudinal wind zones. In general, there are a number of prevailing wind conditions on the surface and at higher altitudes in both hemispheres that greatly affect the weather. Where winds meet on the surface at the equator, the air moves upward and you will have lots of storms and rain. At 30 degrees (1/3 of the way toward the poles) cool dry air descends and winds diverge at the surface, and you get deserts and dry weather. At 60 degrees latitude (2/3 of the way to the pole from the equator) you get converging winds and another upwelling which results in storm activity. We can imagine what a few extra global warming degrees would do to this cycle when all it takes is a little extra heat to get El Nino going.
Ocean temperature affects everything from global weather systems to primary biological production and ocean circulation. All weather patterns are determined by ocean temperature including major climate events, such as El Ni–o, result from ocean temperature changes. These temperature changes then have impacts on weather events such as hurricanes, typhoons, floods and droughts.
El Nino / La Nina
Changes in the ocean temperature can affect weather patterns around the world. One of these cyclic changes is the El Ni–o. El Ni–o occur when the normal pattern of trade wind circulation change. They normally move westward, carrying warm surface water to Indonesian and Australia. This allows cooler water to up well along the South American coast. When the trade winds are reduce or reversed warmer water is moved toward the coast of South America and raises water temperature. This cause heat and moisture to rise form the ocean off Ecuador and Peru. (The Green Lane, 2002)
Oceans store the sun's heat and energy, this heat is than transported through currents. A slight temperature increase in the ocean's surface water can have a great impact on the atmosphere, causing change in regional climate like increasing or decreasing rainfall levels.
Changes in rainfall levels have major environmental and economic impacts on both sides of the Pacific. They can cause such events like severe droughts or floods over parts of the world. The El Ni–o part of the cycle hinders the rainy season in W. Pacific regions near the equator, like Australia and Indonesia creating climate conditions that favor bushfires. (Berstand & Pierrehumbert, 2006)
Heat Waves
A heat wave is an extended interval of abnormally hot and usually humid weather, usually lasting from a few days to over a week. Heat waves form when an air mass becomes stationary over a region. Hot humid air masses form over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea while hot dry air masses form over the desert in the Southwest and northern Mexico. In the Eastern United States a heat wave occurs when a high pressure system originating in the Gulf of Mexico becomes stationary just off the Atlantic Seaboard. The SW winds on the back side of the High continue to pump hot, humid Gulf air North-eastward resulting in a spell of hot and humid weather for much of the Eastern States. It is projected that the average temperature will raise 3 to 9 degrees this century due to global warming. Increased average temperature increases the possibility of extreme weather patterns such as heat waves. (Vergano, 2006)
