Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries
Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries
Weather By The Moon Can the tide influence the wind? All motion and all energy are relative. Consider two large masses such as some of the Earth’s atmosphere(air) and some of the Earth’s surface(ocean). There is friction produced between the two bodies when they are not both at rest. When one of them starts moving, air across calm water or tidal motion underneath still air, the other will also be made to move due to that friction at the surface point of contact. It is not just here and there: Because of the areas of ocean involved there is a phenomenal friction effect. That is why a fog will often roll in on the tide. Blow across a saucer of water and watch what happens. The amount of energy transferred will depend on the size of the masses, the area of the surfaces in contact, the roughness of those surfaces, the relative motion and the duration of the surface friction. So just as the wind whips up the waves, so do the waves affect the wind. The air will be swept along by waves together with the swell if significantly large, because travelling waves encapsulate and pass on pockets of air. Between the tropics, the trade winds and the main sea currents flow in the same direction. What if there was no Moon? Without a Moon in the sky there would be no life on Earth. The Sun would evaporate all the water of the seas to a cloud and the Earth would revolve inside the cloud. That enormous cloud would face the Sun all the time because the Sun would be the only gravitational attraction on Earth. The Moon is slowing the earth down. The second consequence of the Moon’s pull on Earth is to slow Earth’s 76
Tides rotation. As Earth’s rotation speed decreases the Moon must move farther from Earth to conserve angular momentum. This process is slow. Every 350 years we have to add another second to the length of our year. Tides also occur in large lakes, within the solid crust of the Earth, and in the atmosphere. The latter really are ‘high’ tides! ATMOSPHERIC TIDES The Sun is the major source of energy available to the Earth. At the Earth-Sun distance of 93,200,000 miles (150,000,000 km) about one two-billionth of the Sun’s outpouring of energy (mostly in the visible-light range of the spectrum) is intercepted by us. Most of this is absorbed by the atmosphere and the solid Earth, giving rise to heating of the gas of the atmosphere and the rock and water of the surface. The heat of the sun heat warms the atmosphere and the Earth. The atmosphere is a pile of gases 200 miles thick that, along with the body of water we call the sea, is held to the Earth by our own gravity. Without this gravity all the oceans would fly off into space. The atmosphere would go too. What does the atmosphere weigh? The total weight of Earth’s atmosphere is about 4.5 x 1018 kilograms, or nearly five thousand million million tons. Thus the weight of the atmosphere per unit area, or its pressure, is about a ton per square foot at sea level. A layer of water about 10 meters, or 33 feet deep sitting on the Earth at every point, would exert the same pressure at the Earth’s surface as does 77
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<strong>Weather</strong> <strong>By</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Moon</strong><br />
Can the tide influence the wind? All motion and all<br />
energy are relative. Consider two large masses such as some<br />
of the Earth’s atmosphere(air) and some of the Earth’s<br />
surface(ocean). <strong>The</strong>re is friction produced between the two<br />
bodies when they are not both at rest. When one of them<br />
starts moving, air across calm water or tidal motion underneath<br />
still air, the other will also be made to move due to<br />
that friction at the surface point of contact. It is not just<br />
here and there: Because of the areas of ocean involved there<br />
is a phenomenal friction effect. That is why a fog will often<br />
roll in on the tide.<br />
Blow across a saucer of water and watch what happens.<br />
<strong>The</strong> amount of energy transferred will depend on the<br />
size of the masses, the area of the surfaces in contact, the<br />
roughness of those surfaces, the relative motion and the<br />
duration of the surface friction.<br />
So just as the wind whips up the waves, so do the<br />
waves affect the wind. <strong>The</strong> air will be swept along by waves<br />
together with the swell if significantly large, because travelling<br />
waves encapsulate and pass on pockets of air. Between<br />
the tropics, the trade winds and the main sea currents<br />
flow in the same direction.<br />
What if there was no <strong>Moon</strong>? Without a <strong>Moon</strong> in the<br />
sky there would be no life on Earth. <strong>The</strong> Sun would evaporate<br />
all the water of the seas to a cloud and the Earth would<br />
revolve inside the cloud. That enormous cloud would face<br />
the Sun all the time because the Sun would be the only gravitational<br />
attraction on Earth.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Moon</strong> is slowing the earth down. <strong>The</strong> second consequence<br />
of the <strong>Moon</strong>’s pull on Earth is to slow Earth’s<br />
76
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