Introduction

It is important to understand how global wind and ocean circulation patterns are generated in order to understand how these circulation patterns have altered throughout time and therefore have changed global climates.

Due to tectonic processes, land masses have shifted in location and this has had a direct effect on oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns. As well as these direct effects, there are a number of feedback mechanisms that have helped exacerbate these effects.

For example, orogeny (mountain building) will lead to increased land altitude, which in turn will lead to more snow bound land. With its high albedo (reflectance), cooling of the atmosphere due to build up of ice and snow will further lead to global climate change.

The interactive diagram below illustrates the change in the circulation patterns at various times since the Jurrasic period (175 Ma).