Oceans, the Water Cycle, and Climate

It has an unusually high specific heat capacity (~4.18 J/g·°C, about 4–5× rock or sand), so it absorbs and releases large amounts of energy with small temperature changes.

Maritime (coastal) climates have small temperature swings because water moderates them (San Francisco: 12°F swing); continental climates have extremes (St. Louis: 48°F swing at the same latitude).

Evaporating 1 g of water absorbs ~2,260 J; that hidden energy is released when vapor condenses far away, fueling thunderstorms and hurricanes.

Evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration) → condensation into clouds → precipitation → runoff or infiltration into groundwater → return to the ocean.

About 86% of evaporation comes from the ocean but only ~78% of precipitation falls back on it; the surplus falling on land fills rivers, lakes, and aquifers.

~9 days in the atmosphere, ~3,200 years in the ocean, and thousands of years in deep groundwater and ice caps.

Earth neither gains nor loses meaningful water, but the cycle is continually driven by incoming solar energy and gravity.

Earth's rotation deflects moving fluids right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern, creating gyres — clockwise in the north, counterclockwise in the south.

The Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift bring warm tropical water and moist air to northwest Europe, while Labrador lies downstream of the cold Labrador Current.

The deep 'global conveyor belt' driven by density differences from temperature and salinity; cold, salty water sinks near Greenland and Antarctica and takes ~1,000 years to complete a circuit.

The rising of cold, deep water along coasts (such as Peru's), which brings nutrients toward the surface.