Wind and its types. westerly winds

Wind is a horizontal and evenly moving air flow relative to the earth's surface. There is a huge variety of local winds, which cannot be explained by the example of ordinary observations due to their inherent specific features that are characteristic of a particular region. So, to talk about what kind of winds there are on the coast, for example, such observations allow: at noon a breeze blows from the sea - cool, gentle, and at night the same wind moves from land towards the sea. In deserts and mountainous areas, mainly mountain or valley winds "live". However, there are types of winds that apply to the entire planet as a whole.

What are the winds

  1. Monsoon is a wind with a periodic character, and carrying a lot of moisture. In winter, the monsoon blows from the land to the ocean, and in the summer, from the ocean to land. The monsoons are predominantly tropical zone and are essentially seasonal winds, lasting several months each year.
  2. The trade winds are winds with a constant character, moving with a fairly stable force of three or four points. The trade winds move in almost the same direction, sometimes slightly deviating. Such dynamics of movement leads to the mixing of the air masses of the planet, up to a global scale: for example, the trade winds blowing over the Atlantic Ocean can carry dust particles from the African deserts to the territory of the West Indies and several North American regions.
  3. Local winds:
    • Breeze - a warm breeze blowing from the coast to the sea at night (coastal breeze) and in the opposite direction during the day (sea breeze). Main generators prevailing winds in coastal areas are sea and continental breezes. Due to the fact that the sea (body of water) warms up more slowly than land due to the greater heat capacity of water, the air heated above land rises more strongly, forming a zone reduced pressure. This creates a gap atmospheric pressure between air currents and a cool sea breeze is born on the coast.

      At night, due to the lower heat capacity, the land cools faster, and the sea breeze stops. At the moment when the temperature of the land is below the temperature on the surface of the reservoir, a reverse pressure drop is formed, creating (if not strong wind from the sea) a continental breeze moving from land to sea.

    • Bora is a wind with a cold, sharp character, moving from the side of the mountains to the territory of the coast or valley.
    • Foehn is a dry, strong and warm wind that moves from the mountains to the territory of the valley or the coast.
    • Sirocco is the Italian name for the southwestern or strong south wind formed in the Sahara desert.
  4. Variable and constant winds.

    The nature of the movement of air masses also helps to understand what kind of winds there are. So, variable winds are able to change their direction. These include the breezes already discussed above (translated from French "Breeze" means light wind), since they change the direction of their movement twice a day (day and night).

    Monsoons are born in the same way as breezes. They change the direction of their movement twice a year seasonally (summer and winter). Arabic name wind "monsoon" in translation and means "season". When the summer monsoon forms, thunderstorms occur due to strong air saturation. sea ​​water, and in winter, dry and cold air moves from the land.

  5. Also, the winds can be described as gusty and light, or give them a name based on the direction of their movement, for example: east, southwest, etc.

Wind- the movement of air is usually in a horizontal direction relative to earth's surface. Air moves out. The reason for the occurrence of wind is the uneven heating of various parts of the Earth. Over the vast territories of our planet, systems of constant and variable winds - air currents - are formed.

Constant winds (air currents):

trade winds. They blow from the tropics of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, where areas of high pressure are formed, located in areas of low pressure. As a result of the rotation of the Earth around its axis, these winds are deflected: in the Northern Hemisphere they blow from the northeast to the southwest, in the Southern - from the southeast to the northwest. eastern coast, Africa, is located all year round under the influence of the trade winds, which originate over the oceans and bring throughout the year. The north is under the influence of the trade winds, which originate at 30 ° latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in the center of Asia. These winds do not bring precipitation: they come dry and hot. The influence of these winds can explain the location in the big world - .

westerly winds . These are the winds that prevail in the troposphere and stratosphere of the middle latitudes of the Earth. They blow from the tropics of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, where a high-pressure area is formed, towards 60° latitudes, where low-pressure areas are formed. Due to the rotation of the Earth, they constantly deviate to the east (in the Northern Hemisphere to the right, in the Southern Hemisphere - to the left) and create an air flow from west to east.

There are also winds of local circulation:

Breeze(French brise - light wind). This is a local wind of low speed, changing its direction twice a day. It occurs on the shores of the seas, lakes. During the day, land heats up faster than water. An area of ​​low pressure is established over land, and a high pressure area is established over water, and the daytime breeze blows from the sea or lake on the coast. At night the picture changes. Land cools faster than water, and the night breeze blows from the chilled coast, over which a high pressure area is established, to the warm one.

During the era of sailing, the breezes were used to start sailing.

Bora(Italian bora; Greek boreas - north wind). This is a strong, gusty wind blowing from the coastal mountains towards the sea, mainly in the cold season. Bora occurs when cold air over land is separated from warm air above the water with a low ridge. Cold air gradually accumulates in front of the ridge and then rolls down to the sea at high speed, so the temperature on the coast drops sharply. Coastal bora is especially typical. The bora leads to icing of coastal buildings, to the capsizing of ships.

A variation of bora is the sarma wind, the name of which comes from the name of the river that flows into. This one, swooping in suddenly and picking up steep ones on the lake. Occurs when transshipment through the ridges of mountains. When this wind approaches, meteorologists broadcast a storm warning.

Fen. It is a warm and dry gusty wind from the mountains. It blows frequently in winter and spring and causes rapid snowmelt. Foehn is very common in the mountains Central Asia, .

Simoom(arab.) - a sultry wind in the deserts and North Africa, carrying hot sand and dust. This wind occurs when the Earth warms up strongly in

CONSTANT WIND - a wind that retains its direction and speed over time if its direction changes by no more than one rhumb within two minutes. There are winds of different constancy: in terms of speed - even, gusty (spirits), squally (bare); in direction - constant (trade wind, strip,) or unstable, changing, transitional (changeable, shaky) and vortex, circular (vortex,).

Dictionary of winds. - Leningrad: Gidrometeoizdat. L.Z. Proh . 1983

See what "STANDING WIND" is in other dictionaries:

    WIND- WIND, wind man. movement, flow, flow, current, air flow. According to its strength, the wind happens: a hurricane, a kavk. bora: storm, storm (usually a thunderstorm and rain are connected with a storm), severe, strong, windstorms: medium, weak, calm wind or breeze, breeze, ... ... Dictionary Dalia

    WIND- (Wind) movement of air masses in a horizontal direction, or, in other words, horizontal air currents. Each V. is characterized by two elements: the direction in which the air moves, and the speed with which it ... ... Marine Dictionary

    A constant wind blowing without interruption for several days and nights on the lake. Seliger. Wed Married wind ... Dictionary of winds

    sunny wind- This term has other meanings, see Solar wind (film) ... Wikipedia

    SUNNY WIND- constant radial flow of solar plasma. corona into interplanetary right. The flow of energy coming from the bowels of the Sun heats the plasma of the corona up to 1.5 2 million K. Post. heating is not balanced by the loss of energy due to radiation, because the density of the corona is low. ... ... Physical Encyclopedia

    sunny wind- represents a constant radial outflow of the plasma of the solar corona (See Solar corona) into interplanetary space. S.'s education associated with the flow of energy entering the corona from the deeper layers of the Sun. Apparently…… Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    Conditional (calculated, fictitious) wind, constant along the entire trajectory of a flying projectile, rocket or other object. It has the same effect on flight as the actual wind (changing along the path). B. c. simplifies calculations of wind action ... Dictionary of Winds

    STAND UP- where, to stand sometimes, at times, often. We stand at the gate, look at the passers-by. Stay and wait. Stand, stand for several times in different meanings. I stood at matins, and my legs ached. The ship lay at anchor and left. The regiment stood at ... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

    Sea currents*- The forward movement of waters in the oceans and seas is called a current. Currents are subdivided, in 1 x, into constant, periodic and random, or irregular; in 2 x, on surface and underwater and, in 3 x, on warm and cold. Constant currents are not ... ...

    sea ​​currents - … encyclopedic Dictionary F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

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Windiness in modern vocabulary is synonymous with impermanence, changeability. But the trade winds completely break this statement. Unlike breezes, seasonal monsoons, and even more so winds caused by weather cyclones, they are constant. How are the trade winds formed and why do they blow in a strictly defined direction? Where did this word "trade wind" come from in our language? Are these winds so constant and where are they localized? You will learn about this and much more from this article.

The meaning of the word "trade winds"

In the days of the sailing fleet, the wind was of paramount importance for navigation. When he always blew evenly in the same direction, one could hope for a successful outcome. dangerous journey. And the Spanish navigators dubbed such a wind "viento de pasade" - conducive to movement. The Germans and the Dutch included the word "pasade" in their maritime vocabulary of navigational terms (Passat and passaat). And in the era of Peter the Great, this name also penetrated into the Russian language. Although in our high latitudes trade winds are rare. The main place of their "habitat" is between the two tropics (Cancer and Capricorn). Trade winds are observed and further from them - up to the thirtieth degree. On the considerable distance from the equator, these winds lose their strength and are observed only in large open spaces, over the oceans. There they blow with a force of 3-4 points. Off the coast, the trade winds transform into monsoons. And further from the equator, winds generated by cyclonic activity give way.

How trade winds are formed

Let's do a little experiment. Put a few drops on the ball. Now let's spin it like a top. Look at the drops. Those of them, which are closer to the axis of rotation, remained motionless, and located on the sides of the "spinning tops" spread in the opposite direction. Now imagine that the ball is our planet. It spins from west to east. This movement creates opposite winds. When the point is located close to the poles, it makes a smaller circle per day than the one located at the equator. Therefore, the speed of its movement around the axis is slower. Air currents do not arise from friction with the atmosphere in such subpolar latitudes. Now it is clear that the trade winds are the steady winds of the tropics. At the equator itself, the so-called calm strip is observed.

Direction of the trade winds

Drops on the ball are easy to see that they spread in the opposite direction of rotation. This is called But to say that the trade winds are winds blowing from east to west would be wrong. In practice, the air masses deviate from their main vector to the south. The same thing happens, only in a mirror image, on the other side of the equator. That is, in the Southern Hemisphere, the trade winds blow from the southeast to the northwest.

Why is the equator so attractive to air masses? In the tropics, as is known, a constant area of ​​high pressure is established. And at the equator, on the contrary, low. If we answer the children's question, where does the wind come from, then we will state a common natural history truth. Wind is the movement of air masses from layers with high pressure to an area with a lower one. The periphery of the tropics in science is called “Horse latitudes”. From there, the trade winds blow at a gallop into the "Calm Strip" above the equator.

Constant wind speed

So, we understood the distribution area of ​​the trade winds. They form in both at a latitude of 25-30° and fade near the calm zone around 6 degrees. The French believe that the trade winds are the "correct winds" (vents alizes), very convenient for sailing. Their speed is small, but constant (five to six meters per second, sometimes it reaches 15 m/s). However, the power of these air masses is so great that they form trade winds. Born in hot regions and these winds contribute to the development of deserts such as the Kalahari, Namib and Atacama.

Are they permanent?

Over the continents, the trade winds collide with local winds, sometimes changing their speed and direction. For example, in the Indian Ocean, due to the special configuration of the coast of Southeast Asia and climatic characteristics, the trade winds turn into seasonal monsoons. As you know, in summer they blow from the cool sea towards the heated land, and in winter - vice versa. However, the statement that the trade winds are the winds of tropical latitudes is not entirely true. In the Atlantic, for example, in the Northern Hemisphere, they blow in winter and spring within 5-27 ° N, and in summer and autumn 10-30 ° N. This strange phenomenon was given a scientific explanation by John Hadley, a British astronomer, back in the 18th century. The windless band does not stand on the equator, but moves after the Sun. Thus, by the date when our star is at its zenith over the Tropic of Cancer, the trade winds are moving north, and in winter - south. The constant winds are not the same in strength. The Southern Hemisphere trade wind is more powerful. He almost does not meet on his way obstacles in the form of land. There it forms the so-called "roaring" fortieth latitudes.

Trade winds and tropical cyclones

To understand the mechanics of the formation of typhoons, you need to understand that two winds blow in each hemisphere of the Earth. constant wind. Everything that we have described above refers to the so-called lower trade winds. But the air, as you know, cools when climbing to a height (on average, one degree every hundred meters of ascent). Warm masses are lighter and rush upwards. Cold air tends to sink down. Thus, opposite trade winds arise in the upper layers of the atmosphere. blowing in the Northern Hemisphere from the southwest, and below the equator - from the northwest. inside the trade winds sometimes changes the stable direction of the two layers. There is a zigzag twisting of warm, moisture-saturated and cold air masses. In some cases, tropical cyclones gain hurricane strength. All the same direction vector inherent in the trade winds carries them to the west, where they unleash their destructive force on coastal areas.