MS-ESS2-6: Uneven Heating, Winds and Ocean Currents
Also called NGSS MS-ESS2-6 · Topic: Weather and Climate · Earth and Space Science
The Official Wording
Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
Clarification statement: Emphasis is on how patterns vary by latitude, altitude, and geographic land distribution. Emphasis of atmospheric circulation is on the sunlight-driven latitudinal banding, the Coriolis effect, and resulting prevailing winds; emphasis of ocean circulation is on the transfer of heat by the global ocean convection cycle, which is constrained by the Coriolis effect and the outlines of continents. Examples of models can be diagrams, maps and globes, or digital representations.
Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include the dynamics of the Coriolis effect.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What MS-ESS2-6 Means in Plain English
Students build and use models to show how sunlight heats Earth unevenly, strongest near the equator, and how that difference drives winds and ocean currents. Earth's spin bends those flows into steady wind belts and circling currents, which carry heat and set the climate of each region.
Students describe the bending caused by Earth's spin but do not work out the physics behind it. They also see how latitude, height and the shape of continents matter. This builds on MS-ESS2-5 and leads to climate change (MS-ESS3-5).
MS-ESS2-6 I Can Statements
- I can explain why the equator gets more energy than the poles.
- I can describe how Earth's spin curves winds and currents.
- I can use a model to explain a region's climate.
MS-ESS2-6 Worked Example
A flashlight-and-globe model that shows why the tropics are warm and why moving air curves.
Why does sunlight warm the equator more than the poles, and what does Earth's spin do to moving air?
Set It Up: A flashlight, a sheet of graph paper on a clipboard, a protractor, a globe on a stand and a dry-erase marker.
- Hold the flashlight 30 cm above the clipboard, pointing straight down, and trace the lit spot.About 12 squares lit
- Tilt the clipboard until the light strikes at 30 degrees, keep the same distance, and trace again.About 24 squares lit
- Compare how much light each square gets in the two tests.Same light spread over twice the area
- Shine the flashlight on the globe and find where the light hits straight on and where it slants.Straight at the equator, slanted near the poles
- Spin the globe slowly west to east while a partner draws a straight line from the North Pole toward the equator.The line curves to the right
The same light covered twice as many squares at a slant, so polar regions get less energy per square, and the spinning globe bent a straight path to the right.
Why it works: Direct sunlight concentrates energy near the equator, so warm air rises there and cooler air flows in, and Earth's rotation turns these flows into curved belts of prevailing winds that also drive ocean currents.
Common Mistakes with MS-ESS2-6
Thinking the poles are farther from the Sun
“It's cold at the poles because they are farther from the Sun.”
Try this: The distance difference is tiny. The real cause is the angle, since slanted light spreads the same energy over a bigger area.
Forgetting that oceans move heat
Explaining a coastal climate with latitude alone
Try this: Check the nearby currents too. Warm currents like the Gulf Stream keep western Europe milder than places at the same latitude elsewhere.
Drawing winds straight north or south
Wind arrows running straight from the poles to the equator
Try this: Earth's rotation curves moving air, right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern, which is why trade winds blow from the east.
Where MS-ESS2-6 Fits
Practice MS-ESS2-6
Quick Check
- Why is it warmer near the equator than near the poles?
- In the Northern Hemisphere, which way does Earth's spin bend moving air?
- How can an ocean current change the climate on land nearby?