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Figure 4.3
Latitudinal variation of surface temperature (January and July) averaged along
each line of latitude. Note how the temperature difference between the poles and equator
varies from January to July. This temperature difference is largest in the winter hemisphere
(January in northern hemisphere and July in southern hemisphere). (Credit: Matthew
Higgins, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of
Colorado)
the atmosphere back to a state in which the tropics are warm and the polar
regions are cold.
From the above discussion we see that the Antarctic, with its year-round loss
of energy from the top of the atmosphere, is critical in creating the pole to equator
temperature gradient which drives both the atmospheric and oceanic circulations
on our planet. Changes in the Antarctic continent, such as a loss of ice cover, would
alter the energy balance over the continent, which would then alter the temperature
gradient from the Antarctic to the tropics, and ultimately alter our global
atmospheric and oceanic circulations. The effect of changes to the energy balance
over the Antarctic could result in changes to the global thermohaline circulation
in the ocean or could alter the path of storm systems in the mid-latitudes where
many of us live. The weather and climate of our parts of the planet are thus
intimately tied to the weather and climate of our most remote continent, Antarctica.
Global atmospheric circulation
The movement of warm and cold air in the atmosphere acts to reduce the
temperature gradient between the tropics and the poles. If the pole to equator
temperature gradient increases either through the tropics warming or the polar regions
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