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Geography Assignment - Winds

The document defines various types of winds including trade winds, westerlies, and prevailing winds. It explains that global wind patterns are caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface from the sun combined with the Coriolis effect from the Earth's rotation. Trade winds are easterly winds near the equator that result from air rising at the equator and moving poleward. Westerlies are winds that blow from west to east in the mid-latitudes. Prevailing winds are the most frequent wind directions in different regions, influenced by global circulation patterns and latitudinal wind zones.

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JasonKoylass
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327 views

Geography Assignment - Winds

The document defines various types of winds including trade winds, westerlies, and prevailing winds. It explains that global wind patterns are caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface from the sun combined with the Coriolis effect from the Earth's rotation. Trade winds are easterly winds near the equator that result from air rising at the equator and moving poleward. Westerlies are winds that blow from west to east in the mid-latitudes. Prevailing winds are the most frequent wind directions in different regions, influenced by global circulation patterns and latitudinal wind zones.

Uploaded by

JasonKoylass
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Define the term: WINDS

Wind is air in motion. It is produced by the uneven heating of


the earths surface by the sun. Since the earths surface is made
of various land and water formations, it absorbs the suns
radiation unevenly. Two factors are necessary to specify wind:
speed and direction. Winds are named for the direction from
which they begin, not the direction they flow (example: A
northerly wind blows air from north to south. A south westerly
wind blows air from the southwest to the northeast.)
There are two types:
1. Local - Caused by changing air masses
2. Global - Caused by the earth's rotation (Coriolis Effect)
and movement of warm air away from the equator.

What are the global wind patterns?


The equator receives the Sun's direct rays. Here, air is heated

and rises, leaving low pressure areas behind. When air hits the
equator, it heats up and rises, eventually being pulled down to
the poles, where it becomes chilled, sinking close to the surface
of the ocean and then being pushed back toward the equator by
the pressure of cooling air from above. This creates a continuous
cycle of air which moves slowly towards the equator near the
surface of the Earth, with the air above moving toward the poles.

WHAT ARE TRADE WINDS?


They are also called Tropical Westerlies.

The trade winds are a consistent weather pattern of easterly


winds which blow near the Earth's equator. They are warm,
steady breezes that blow almost continuously.
The Coriolis Effect makes the trade winds appear to be
curving to the west, whether they are travelling to the
equator from the south or north.
The term trade in this case refers to a track or path,
rather than commerce. Historical mariners found the trade
winds of interest both because they could be used to speed
sailing to the west.

They are surrounded by two other interesting wind patterns: the


doldrums and the horse latitudes.
What are the doldrums?
It is also called the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The
doldrums is an area of calm weather located at the equator. The
trade winds coming from the south and the north meet near the
equator. These converging trade winds produce general upward
winds as they are heated, so there are no steady surface winds.
In the horse latitudes above and below the equator, there are also
periods of minimal wind which can cause ships to become
stranded.

ADVANTAGES OF TRADE WINDS

1. Historically, finding the trade winds and sticking with them


was extremely important, because ships could be stuck for
extended periods of time in the doldrums or the horse
latitudes, eventually running out of supplies.
2. The trade winds also play an important role in global
weather, bringing storms to the western coasts of Asia,
Africa, and the Americas.

Although the trade winds are no longer of critical importance to


merchant ships, since they do not rely on wind power, sailors
continue to utilize the trade winds as a sort of oceanic fast lane
to cut down on travel times across the Pacific and Atlantic.

(PREVAILING) WESTERLIES
What are Westerlies?
Winds which blow from the west towards the east located
above the subtropical highs in the Northern Hemisphere,
and below the subtropical highs in the Southern
Hemisphere are called westerly winds, after the direction
from whence the winds come.
Prevailing westerlies in the Northern Hemisphere are
responsible for many of the weather movements across the
United States and Canada.

Located between thirty and sixty degrees latitude, are the


winds that move toward the poles appear to curve to the
east.
At the core of the westerly winds lies what scientists call a
jet stream. Jet streams are super high-speed winds. Each
hemispheres westerly has two main jet streams. Closer to
the poles we find the polar jet stream. At slightly lower
latitudes we find the subtropical jet stream.

Prevailing Winds
What are prevailing winds?
The prevailing wind is the wind that blows most frequently
across a particular region.
Different regions on Earth have different prevailing wind
directions which are dependent upon the nature of the
general circulation of the atmosphere and the latitudinal
wind zones.
Categories
On the global scale, prevailing winds are divided into three main
categories:
The northeast and southeast trade winds
The westerlies
The polar easterlies.

Their varying locations and directions come from how the earth
rotates and how the sun heats the atmosphere. For example, the
sun's rays hit the equator most directly and thus, steadily heat
the atmosphere there, which leads to a continuous rise of warm
air around the equator.

Movement
The rising air at the equator gradually drifts north and south,
where it eventually cools, sinks and, because of the convection
effect, travels back to the equator. This continuous circulation of
air -- the trade winds -- was used by ancient sailors to sail from
Europe to the Americas since the trade winds blow from east to
west.
The prevailing westerly winds, because they're warmer than
polar air, are drawn to the poles. Conversely, the colder, polar
easterly winds seek warmer atmosphere and blow away from the
poles. This basic pattern of heating and cooling and the
convection effect from the earth's dominant winds.

Read more: What Are Dominant Winds? | eHow.com


http://www.ehow.com/info_12021795_dominantwinds.html#ixzz2JbTV8YrD

Coriolis Effect The earth's rotation causes air to move in a circular motion.
The rotation of the Earth causes an interesting phenomenon
on free moving objects on the Earth. Objects in the
Northern Hemisphere are deflected to the right, while
objects in the Southern Hemisphere are deflected to the left.
When air meets at the equator, it is deflected due to a
phenomenon called the Coriolis effect, which is caused by
the rotation of the Earth. The deflection causes the winds to
divert to the West, creating a steady flow of wind which is
termed easterly because winds are named for the
direction from which they originated, rather than the
direction in which they are headed.
The coriolis Effect and pressure gradient work against each
other. Pressure gradient pushes winds outward, while the
Coriolis Effect moves winds to the right or left. Often these two
forces reach a balance, causing winds to blow sideways along
the pressure gradient, not getting any further out from a high
pressure or closer to a high pressure. This type of wind is
known as a geostrophic wind.

Ferrels deflection Law


Ferrel's law, named after American meteorologist W. Ferrel
(1817-1891), is the rule that air or water moving
horizontally in the Northern Hemisphere is deflected or
pushed to the right of its line of motion while air or water
moving horizontally in the Southern Hemisphere is
deflected to the left of its line of motion.
Ferrel's law applies equally to air and ocean movements, so
the oceans circulate in the same sense as the air in both
hemispheres.
Ferrel's law is the change in direction of prevaling winds
when it comes to the equator. This deflection is caused by
some random molecular motion due to the rise in
temperature.
Ferrel's law predicts the directions of the large-scale
circulations of the earth's atmosphere and oceans, is a
restatement in global terms of the action of the Coriolis
force.

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