By southern sea, I mean all the sea between Antarctica and Africa/S America/Australia. The pacific ocean is equally vast but yet it’s milder. I was looking at global winds on a website and almost the entire Southern Sea perpetually faces 60+ kmph winds. There are even 3000+ km long stretches of continuous 80 kmph winds. Why?
In: 1893
People have mentioned the uninterrupted seas which allow for stronger winds. I’m curious, is the Coriolis effect stronger at larger latitudes, and does this make a significant difference? It seems, mathematically, that the strength of the effect would be much larger between 50 and 60 degrees latitude than it would between 0 and 10 degrees for example. Is this true and/or significant?
Professional sailor here. In part it’s the ability for waves to circle the planet as swell (waves that have left the area they formed.). Waves and swells from the north also feed into the area. Everything true for the sea is true for the storms above. Without landmass to break up the wind it blows over longer distances creating a larger fetch (area where waves are generated). The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn in particular are areas where storms converge. Messy and chaotic seas to say the least.
The Sea is rough because of the wind. The Wind is strong because of the massive low pressure zones created by having ocean water present that is usually warmer than the air above. Significant winds are generated due to these massive air pressure differentials. Same thing happens in the northern hemisphere too which experiences the most severe pressure differentials in winter.
There are a lot of comments about currents but the southern ocean currents are slow and insignificant compared to equatorial currents, gulf stream etc.
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