Maritime Climate. Oceanicity is a measure of the degree to which the climate of a region is influenced by a maritime airflow from the oceans. In contrast to continental climates, maritime climates experience generally cool summers and mild winters, with a much smaller annual temperature range.

Specifically, marine west coast climates exist in Europe from northern Spain to southern Norway, including the British Isles, the west coast of North American from California to Alaska, and the southern coast of Chile in South America.

Climate of Marine West Coast The temperature of marine west coast ecosystems is very mild and does not fluctuate greatly. There are only two seasons, summer and winter. The average low is 30 degrees Fahrenheit in winter months and can reach 72 degrees F in summer months. This region is known for its wet, humid air.

The West Coast is a Western maritime location. Because of this, the temperatures in this region are mild year round, with warm summers and cool winters. Winter temperatures never average below 0° celsius. As well as mild temperatures, to it’s proximity to the pacific ocean, there is a lot of precipitation.

Oceanic climate is found both in the temperate and subtropical areas, In Western Europe, parts of central and Southern Africa, North America as well as part of Australia and New Zealand.

Oceanic climates are created by two wind patterns, the jet stream and the gulf stream. The jet stream blows all around the world from west to east. It blows clouds and rain from the sea onto the land. Warm air from the gulf stream makes the winters in oceanic climates mild, so they are cool but not very cold.

According to this theory, the ocean formed from the escape of water vapor and other gases from the molten rocks of the Earth to the atmosphere surrounding the cooling planet. After the Earth’s surface had cooled to a temperature below the boiling point of water, rain began to fall—and continued to fall for centuries.

Other scientists have theorized that ocean temperatures oscillate between hot and cold, like some decadal climatic pendulum swing. It becomes clear that there is an almost mechanistic system by which the ocean drives climate change, which is why it was dubbed by scientists as the “global heat engine.”

The Plants:

• Algae.
• Sea Grasses.
• Phytoplankton.
• Coral Reefs.
• Seaweed.
• Marsh Grasses.
• Sea Anemones.
• Sea Cabbage.

The types of ocean plants are kelp, seaweed, Seagrass, red algae, phytoplankton, corals and algae. Marine plants are divided into three types: euphotic or sunli, disphotic or twilight and aphotic or midnight depending upon the amount of sunlight needed for their survival and growth.

Generally lakes flow into oceans via rivers, not the other way around. So the ocean is getting a bit of freshwater added, but the lake is not getting saltwater from the ocean. The lake is replenished by rainwater, or by rivers often connected to high elevation sources of water, like a mountain.

A river forms from water moving from a higher elevation to a lower elevation, all due to gravity. When rain falls on the land, it either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff, which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the seas. Rivers eventually end up flowing into the oceans.

Rivers come in lots of different shapes and sizes, but they all have some things in common. All rivers and streams start at some high point. Eventually all this water from rivers and streams will run into the ocean or an inland body of water like a lake.

Rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, and streams are all freshwater habitats. So are wetlands like swamps, which have woody plants and trees; and marshes, which have no trees but lots of grasses and reeds. Freshwater accounts for only three percent of the world’s water. (The rest is saltwater.)