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The Moon affects the Earth's climate
The most obvious effect can be seen in the ocean tides. The Earth's rotation causes the Moon's gravity to pull the water on the closest side of Earth towards it, creating a bulge. The centrifugal force caused by the Earth's rotation makes the sea bulge on the other side too. These bulges of water are high tides.
Every 18.6 years, there is a lunar nodal cycle, where the lunar plane tilts away from the equatorial plane, causing tides to grow smaller. When the Moon's orbit is more in line with the Earth equator, the tides are bigger.
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Excessive flooding pose a danger
According to Nasa, the rising sea levels combined with the influence of the nodal cycle can increase the number of high tide floods in the 2030s.
These floods could damage infrastructure and change coastlines. In addition, it could be an existential threat to wildlife in coastal ecosystems.
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The Moon play a role in weather systems
Tides influence the movement of ocean currents. Warm ocean currents bring warmer, wetter weather, while cold currents bring colder, drier weather.
The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (Enso) may be affected by the lunar nodal cycle too. Usually, strong winds along the equator blow warm surface water westward from South America towards Indonesia. During an El Niño event, these winds are reduced or even reversed and can affect weather worldwide. Usually, wet regions may experience drought, while dry areas may experience rain. A La Niña event will have the opposite effect.
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The Moons effect on ice, land and air
- The Moon affects polar temperatures on a monthly cycle. Satellite measurements have shown that poles are 0.55C warmer during a full Moon.
- The Moon creates tidal currents and waves in the ocean that can either melt or break up sea ice.
- Atmospheric tides cause changes in atmospheric pressure. These changes are linked with higher air temperatures, which means the air molecules can hold more moisture.
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