Questions Submitted by James Monroe Elementary
Judy and Paquita: A student from our class was recently on a Tiger Cruise with his father on the USS Momsen. He got to watch them launch a daily probe to the ocean floor to measure water temperature at different depths, and reported to us that this helped them predict how rain would form.
- Are you using anything similar to that on this cruise?
- How does the temperature of the water affect cloud formation and rain?
No, we didn't measure the water temperature at different depths during this cruise, though we have during other cruises. It's true that the water temperature can affect cloud formation and rain, but it matters more in places where the Sun can really warm up the water over a large area, such as the tropical Pacific. Where we were, the winds mix the water enough that they tend to keep the water at a more uniform temperature, varying little from day to day (though the water temperature does vary with the seasons).
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