Table Of ContentAnnotated Atlas of Coastal
and Marine Winds
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Annotated Atlas of Coastal
and Marine Winds
Nazla Bushra
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
Robert V. Rohli
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
Elsevier
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii 3. The role of atmospheric humidity
in global winds 49
1. Introduction 1 4. Diurnal wind patterns 75
5. Tracks of severe coastal and
2. Monthly wind patterns 17
marine tropical cyclones 127
Oceancirculation 44
Monsooncirculations 47 Index 155
v
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Acknowledgments
The authors express their gratitude to their partners and colleagues at Elsevier, particularly Ali Afzal-Khan, Samantha
Allard, Prem Kumar Kaliamoorthi, Louisa Munro, Unni Kannan Ramu, and the rest of the editorial team for sharing
theirtalents,confidence,patience,andresourcesthroughthisenjoyableproject.Theconstructivecommentsandsugges-
tions from three anonymous reviewers are also most appreciated. The authors also thank their families and the
Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences and College of the Coast & Environment at Louisiana State
Universityfortheoverwhelmingsupportandencouragementduringthisprojectandbeyond.
vii
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Chapter 1
Introduction
The Earth’s surface temperature
To an unappreciative observer, the world’s five oceans—the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Southern oceans
(Fig. 1.1)—may look similar on the surface. But upon further reflection, everyone should agree that they, and
thelocalnamesforvariousinletsandsectionsoftheoceans(showninredinFig.1.1),aretrulyremarkable,uniqueplaces.
The wide array of life and complicated ecosystems and food webs that the oceans and their inlets support is depen-
dent on energy from the Sun. One important representation of that energy received from the Sun is the temperature.
Therefore, before we can understand the oceans, it is important to understand how the Sun’s radiation, manifested as
temperature,isreceivedthroughouttheyear.
The geometry of the Earth’s position relative to the Sun causes the tropical parts of the Earth to experience the Sun at a
nearly overhead position near noon, throughout the year, even as Earth orbits the Sun. When the Sun is overhead or nearly
overhead,ithasgreatcapacitytowarmthesurface,becauseitsradiantenergyarrivesinanearperpendicularpathtothesur-
face. Atthe Equator(the imaginary east-west-running line dividing the Earth in half) itself, the Earth(cid:1)Sun geometry means
that every single day, there are 12hours of daylight and 12hours of darkness. This consistency in the number of daylight
hoursthroughouttheyear,whichisrelatedtothehighSunanglethroughouttheyear,causestheequatorialregionstoremain
warmyear-round.
By contrast, the Earth(cid:1)Sun geometry cause the polar parts of the Earth to experience the Sun at a much more overhead
angleduringpartoftheyear(summer)thantheoppositepart(winter).Thiscausessummerstobewarmerthanwinters.Infact,
thedifferenceinSunanglethroughouttheyearincreaseswithdistancefromtheEquator,whichisdefinedas0degreelatitude,
totheNorthorSouthPole,whichlieat90degreeslatitudeNorthorSouth(oftheEquator),respectively.At66.5degreeslati-
tude (the Arctic Circle in the Northern Hemisphere and the Antarctic Circle in the Southern Hemisphere), even the noonday
Sunshinesonlybelowthehorizonon1dayperyearthefirstdayofwinter—thewintersolstice,whichoccursintheNorthern
Hemisphere on December 21 or 22 (depending on how the calendar falls on that year). In other words, at the Arctic and
Antarctic Circles, there is no daylight at all on at least 1 day of the year; it remains dark for 24 consecutive hours. And pole-
wardoftheArcticandAntarcticCircles,thenumberofconsecutivecalendardaysthatremaindarkincreasesfromoneat66.5
degrees North or South latitude to 6 months at the North and South Poles. But only one of the two hemispheres (Northern or
Southern)receivesthelengthyperiodofdarknessatatime.
Likewise, at the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, the Sun never goes below the horizon—even at midnight—on 1 day per
year—the first day of summer—the summer solstice, or June 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere. Southern Hemisphere
residents refer to December 21 or 22 as the summer solstice and June 21 or 22 as the winter solstice. At latitudes increas-
inglypolewardoftheArcticandAntarcticCircles,thelengthoftimebetweensunrisesinthewinterpartoftheyearandsun-
sets in the summer part of the year expands successively from 24hours at the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, to 6 months at
theNorthandSouthPoles.NeveracceptajobinthepolarpartsoftheEarthforwhichyouarepaidbytheday!
The abundant solar radiation receipt in the latitudes near the Equator—known as the “low latitudes” or the Tropics—
provides even more radiant energy than is lost from the emission of radiation by the surface and atmosphere upward toward
space.Thisgeneratesasurplusofsolarradiationintropicallatitudes.AslatitudeincreasesfromtheEquator,theseasonaldiffer-
ences in Sun angle, number of daylight hours, and therefore solar radiation receipt, increase. On the whole, the net radiation
receiptdecreases poleward,primarilyduetoreduced incoming solarradiation relativetotheoutgoingradiation emitted bythe
Earth and its atmosphere, particularly in the winter months. Somewhere around 38 degrees of latitude, the net radiation
AnnotatedAtlasofCoastalandMarineWinds.DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820061-2.00001-8
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