Solar heating of the Earth’s surface is uneven because land heats faster than water, and this causes air to warm, expand and rise over land while it cools and sinks over the cooler water surfaces. This differential heating is passed on to the air above by conduction which causes air expansion and changes in pressure.

Earth’s orbit around the sun and its rotation on a tilted axis causes some parts of Earth to receive more solar radiation than others. This uneven heating produces global circulation patterns. For example, the abundance of energy reaching the equator produces hot humid air that rises high into the atmosphere.

The Sun heats Earth’s surface unevenly, driving global weather patterns that carry heat and humidity around the world. Differences in air pressure result in wind, causing air masses with different temperature and humidity to move. Clouds and powerful storms can form at a frontal boundary, where two air masses meet.

Wind is caused by uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun.

Earth is a dynamic planet, constantly undergoing change driven by internal and external forces. On the surface, the greatest factor affecting Earth is sunlight. Sun provides energy for living organisms, and it drives our planet’s weather and climate by creating temperature gradients in the atmosphere and oceans.

The Top 10 Causes of Global Warming

• Power Plants. Forty percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions stem from electricity production.
• Transportation.
• Farming.
• Deforestation.
• Fertilizers.
• Oil Drilling.
• Natural Gas Drilling.
• Permafrost.

The main driver of climate change is the greenhouse effect. Some gases in the Earth’s atmosphere act a bit like the glass in a greenhouse, trapping the sun’s heat and stopping it from leaking back into space and causing global warming….Greenhouse gases

• carbon dioxide (CO2)
• methane.
• nitrous oxide.
• fluorinated gases.

Carbon dioxide is the main cause of human-induced global warming and associated climate change. It is a very long-lived gas, which means carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere with ongoing human emissions and remains in the atmosphere for centuries.

Increased heat, drought and insect outbreaks, all linked to climate change, have increased wildfires. Declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns.

3.1 Factors affecting climate

• distance from the sea.
• ocean currents.
• direction of prevailing winds.
• shape of the land (known as ‘relief’ or ‘topography’)
• distance from the equator.
• the El Niño phenomenon.

The three main factors of weather are light (solar radiation), water (moisture) and temperature.

Weather modification (also known as weather control) is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply.

Factors that Influence Weather

• The Water Cycle. As the sun warms the surface of the Earth, water rises in the form of water vapor from lakes, rivers, oceans, plants, the ground, and other sources.
• Air Masses.
• Jet Stream.
• Weather Fronts.

Important environmental factors in ship routing are those elements such as the atmosphere and ocean which may produce a change in the status of a ship transit. In ship routing, wind, waves, fogs, ice, and ocean currents should be considered.