How the Moon Affects Weather & Climate
While the moon has no direct effect on the earth's weather, the moon's gravitational pull---a kind of magnetic tug from the moon to the earth---affects rising and falling tides and ocean currents, which in turn affect the shifting weather and climate patterns on the earth.
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Gravitational Pull
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The moon's gravitational pull yanks tides toward land and pushes them away from the shore. The moon's gravitational pull on the earth causes ocean tides to rise (slip onto land) and fall (slip away from land). According to the National Geographic's Moon Facts webpage, the moon's gravitational pull causes two conflicting tidal bulges, or swells, of water on the earth's oceans. One swell, the strongest, causes ocean waters to pull toward the moon. The other swell causes ocean waters to pull away from the moon. Both forces cause what we call high tides. As the earth rotates, these swells or water-forces move around with the earth's orbit.
Currents
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The moon pushes and pulls the ocean, creating both surface and deep currents. The ocean tides caused by the moon affect ocean currents, which bring new temperatures and weather patterns onto the mainland. Oceans have two types of currents: surface currents and deep-flow currents. The wind causes most surface currents; deep flow currents are caused by a mix of heated waters (tropical or Pacific), cold waters (like Arctic), precipitation levels and evaporation.
Fast-moving horizontal currents, triggered by the moon's tidal pulls, can carry warm or cool water several thousand miles. The temperature of the water cools or warms the air over the land, which influences weather and climate on the mainland. The Gulf Stream current, for example, culls water from the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean toward Western Europe.
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El Nino, La Nina
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El Niño is an oceanic-atmospheric disruption causing warm water currents to spread around the world. El Niño refers to an ocean-current phenomenon in the tropical Pacific that causes significant weather and climate consequences around the globe. El Niño causes abnormally warm ocean surface temperatures to spread through ocean currents. These warmer currents change wind patterns and weather around the globe. La Niña is characterized by unusually cool temperatures in the equatorial Pacific and produces abnormally cool temperatures.
The full term for El Niño is El Niño-Southern Oscillation. El Niño means "the Boy" in Spanish; this term refers to the Christ child. El Niño affects South America around Christmas time each year.
Climate Stability
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Earth's climate is relatively steady, but changes ocean currents can spur climate change. According to NASA's Solar Exploration website, the moon's constant daily and monthly rhythms influence the earth's cycles. Tides as well as the stability of the earth's axis cause a relatively stable climate on earth.
Heat
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The moon reflects sunlight toward the earth. While the moon does not generate heat, it holds heat in its center like the earth's molten lava core. Heat that reaches the earth from the moon comes from sunlight reflected from the moon toward the earth. The amount of light and heat the moon drives toward the earth is about half a million times less than the amount of light and heat the earth receives directly from the sun, so the heat effect is weak.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit moon image by Augenblicke from Fotolia.com moon image by vashistha pathak from Fotolia.com danger - strong current image by Alexander Reitter from Fotolia.com tropical island image by Dariusz Kopestynski from Fotolia.com global warming climate image by Nont from Fotolia.com Lua image by Mario Matos from Fotolia.com
