Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 08/27/2007 - 11:09
Forums
Kuril Islands Biocomplexity

Hi Ms. Nikula,

whats up? I'ts me Roberta again and here is my 2nd question: How come the weather were u r various so often? It seems like the weather changes so often and I was wondering why? Thanks, byeez!!!Laughing

Wed, 08/29/2007 - 05:17

Misty Nikula

RobertaVery observant question!
Mostly the weather changes in the Kuril Islands are like spring or fall in Washington - a cloudy day, a sunny day, a rainy day, a day that has sun and clouds and rain, etc.
The one big difference is that in the Kurils we have to deal with fog.  Since they are between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, there is a lot of water in the air around them AND since the Pacific is so much warmer water than the Okhotsk in that area, then the warm air hits the colder air and that makes the fog form.   Typically, we had weather that was either high clouds/fog and overcast or partly sunny with clouds/fog blowing in.  But it could change very fast as the land heated up during the day and changed the wind patterns.  These are very small islands in big bodies of water, so the warming land isn't able to "control" the weather and even it out as much as it might in other continental areas.
Ms Nikula