Temperature Controls in the city of Oslo in Norway

There are five main controls on surface air temperature. Within a country, different cities can experience very different temperatures and weather due to the topography in the city, the location to the city with respect to latitude, the ocean, wind-direction, and so on. The five controls on surface air temperature are ocean currents, altitude, geographic position, cloud cover and albedo, and differential heating of land and water. Today I am going to talk about the city Oslo, and which controls on temperature that impact this city the most and the least.

Norway's capital city is Oslo and is located in the eastern Norway with a latitude 59°56'58"N and longitude 10°45'23"E. The warmest month in Oslo is july with an average monthly temperature of 64°F. The coldest month in Oslo is december with an average monthly temperature of 27°F. The annual range of temperature in Oslo is then 37°F. Here is the website where I found this information:www.met.no/English/

Oslo has a humid climate due to the Gulf stream. The Gulf Stream is an ocean current and an control of temperature, by keeping Oslo much milder in the winters, and much warmer in the summers. Even though the Gulf Stream doesn't effect just only Norway's capital city, but instead the whole country, I would say that this ocean current is the most important control on temperature in Oslo. 

Oslo has warmer summers and milder winters than it originally should have had, because of the warm Gulf stream waters. The Gulf Stream originates in the Gulf of Mexico and carries warm water across the Atlantic Ocean up to northern latitudes. In North, the Gulf Stream is also known as the "North Atlantic Drift". This is a powerful, warm Atlantic Ocean Current that are responsible from providing Oslo and Norway from not to share the same cold temperatures as Alaska, Greenland and Siberia which shares the same latitude. 

The Gulf Stream does not flow smoothly, but instead it circulates in a turbulent way. This circulation movement makes the gulf stream use longer time to pass the Norwegian coast. The longer time it uses to pass, the more time the warm ocean current have to warm up the air around the coast. This warm air blows mainly as westerly winds. These warm winds keeps Oslo milder. On average, Oslo is supposed to be 10°C colder than it is today. 

Among all the controls on temperature that I listed in the beginning of this text, I believe that altitude is the one that impact Oslo the least.  Norway is a very mountainous country, but Oslo is located at a relatively flat lying area so altitude does not impact Oslo as much as other cities of Norway.  

As we all know, our Earth is getting warmer, and this warming process is referred to as "global warming". What a lot of people might not know is that every place on earth will not certainly get warmer. Some of them might instead get colder. And that is what scientist are saying about Norway. They believe that Norway will get colder. My professor back in Norway told me about this theory of how Norway will get colder, and I will try to explain here what he told me. 

The global change have so far lead to severe melting of glaciers in the poles. Along with the melted ice and more precipitation up in north, the North Atlantic Ocean is receiving more freshwater. This increase in freshwater in the North Atlantic threatens the strength of the Gulf Stream in the future. This is because when the Gulf Stream passes Norway and goes further up North it eventually sinks down and becomes deep water. This sinking is due to the amount of salt that is in this southernly water, along with the cooling of the water. Saltier, colder water is more dense, and will sink. So, for the water to sink it has to contain salt, but the scientists concern is that this sinking, that leads to an "pumping" effect of the ocean circulation, will decrease because of the freshwater supply. 

If the Gulf stream decreases in its strength, the Norwegian weather will be colder. As I mentioned earlier, when the Gulf stream is strong, it brings more warm water towards Norway and Norway gets warmer. But if this theory proves to be correct, Oslo and Norway will experience a much different climate in the future. 

The research that I have done to find out what controls the temperatures in Oslo, have confirmed to me just how important the Gulf Stream is for us Norwegians up in North. Not only is the ocean currents a big factor to the whole country of Norway, but it is also the major control on temperature in the city Oslo. Scientists are sure of the fact that we are definetely in a period of global warming, but it will be interesting to keep following the research that will be done in the future, and to see if they will predict another outcome for Norway. Is Norway going to be warmer or colder? I certainly don't know..