How continents can influence global climate?

Question

How continents can influence global climate?

Answer 1

Slow movement of continents results in rearrangement of global ocean currents.  These currents conduct heat around the globe and the pattern of their flow affects what areas get warmed.  For example, there is a current that keeps England warm.  Otherwise, England would be bloody cold.

However, these changes are very, very slow, taking millions of years.  More rapid are the fluctuations of the sun's energy output as well as the changes in the Earth's internal heat output.  Right now, there are volcanic warm spots heating up under Greenland that are melting away its ice caps from beneath.  Other increasing hot spots are warming the oceans, melting away sea ice and driving carbon dioxide from the warming water into the atmosphere.  This change in  volcanic activity is related to the movement of continents but its effects are seen fairly quickly.

Answer 2

Mountain ranges can both divert winds, and even make them persistent. When a wet air mass starts pushing against a range of mountains, we see cloud formation, then precipitation. But while that is getting going we also see that hot air is rising on the windward side, and descending, dry, on the leeward. This effectively becomes a wind pump, keeping the wind moving toward the range of mountains on the windward side until either the supply of moisture dries up, or arctic wind is pushed the reverse direction.

Mountain ranges like the eastern ranges of America. divert  rain bearing storms to induce many of them to move lengthwise of the mountain range?  No, those storms are actually following a jet stream.

Large land masses have different thermal effects from those over oceans. These differences produce minor disturbances locally that become the trigger for much larger. (See that off Africa;s west coast these disturbances set in motion storms that traverse the Atlantic and often become our hurricanes.) This is not a butterfly wing effect, but a very well established pattern.

Answer 3

it can't global warming is a farce used by Al Gore to raise taxes,, he's a crackpot and whoever believes in global warming is also a crackpot

Answer 4

I recently heard the air quality in China in horrible...that this may actuality affect the athletes during the Olympic games. Im sure this is affecting the global climate, especially with their use of coal.