Western winds. The course of the Western winds, their influence on the climate

The air masses surrounding us are in continuous motion: up and down, horizontally. The horizontal movement of air is what we call wind. Wind currents are formed according to their own specific laws. To characterize them, indicators such as speed, strength and direction are used.

The winds of different climatic regions have their own features and characteristics. The temperate latitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are blown by westerly winds.

Constants and variables

Wind direction determines areas of high and low pressure. Air masses move from places high pressure to areas with low The direction of the wind also depends on the action of the earth's rotation: in the northern hemisphere, the flows are corrected to the right side, in the southern hemisphere - to the left. Air flows can be either constant or variable.

Western winds of temperate latitudes, trade winds, northeast and southeast belong to the group of constants. If the trade winds are called the winds of the tropics (30 o N - 30 o S), then westerly winds prevail in temperate latitudes from 30 o to 60 o in both hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, these air currents deviate to the right.

In addition to constant winds, there are variable or seasonal winds - breezes and monsoons, as well as local winds that are typical only for a particular region.

The course of the West Winds

Air, moving in a certain direction, has the ability to carry huge masses of water in the ocean, creating strong currents - rivers among the oceans. Wind currents are called wind currents. In temperate latitudes, westerly winds and the rotation of the earth direct surface currents towards the western shores of the continents. In the northern hemisphere they move clockwise, in the southern hemisphere they move counterclockwise. In the Southern Hemisphere, the action of the wind and the earth's rotation created strong current West Winds along the coast of Antarctica. This is the most powerful ocean current that encircles the entire globe from west to east in the area between 40 o and 50 o south latitude. This current serves as a barrier separating the southern waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans from the cold waters of the Antarctic.

wind and climate

Western winds have an impact on the climate of a large area of ​​the Eurasian continent, especially on that part of it that is located in the temperate zone. With the breeze of the West, coolness comes to the continent in the midst of summer heat and thaw in winter. It is the winds from the west in cooperation with the warm ocean current that explain the fact that the climate of the north-west of Europe is much warmer than the same latitudes. North America. With advancement deep into the continent to the east, the influence of the Atlantic decreases, but the climate becomes completely continental only beyond the Ural Range.

In the Southern Hemisphere, violent winds from the west are not hindered by any obstacles in the form of continents and mountains, they are free and free: they storm, fight ships, rush east at high speed.

Who is friends with the wind

Indomitable news is especially familiar to sailors on the routes Cape of Good Hope - New Zealand - Cape Horn. Having picked up a passing sailboat, they can disperse it faster than a diesel ship. Sailors call western winds gallant in the Northern Hemisphere and roaring forties in the Southern.

Westerly winds also caused a lot of trouble to the first aviators. They were allowed to fly from America to Europe, as they were on the way. Pilots passed the route without problems. The situation with the flight from Europe to America was quite different. Of course, no wind is a hindrance to modern supersonic liners, but in the 20-30s of the nineteenth century it turned out to be a significant obstacle.

So the French pilots Nengesier and Colli in 1919 made a historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean on the route Newfoundland - Azores - Iceland. But the same way in the opposite direction ended tragically. The pilots intended to repeat the famous path of Columbus by air, only 34 years later the wreckage of their aircraft was discovered on the coast of the United States.

The tragedy is explained by the fact that strong winds significantly delayed the aircraft, and there was simply not enough fuel to reach the destination.

The Soviet pilots Gordienko and Kokkinaki were the first to defeat the oncoming waves in 1939, successfully overcoming the French route.

Predominant winds- winds that blow predominantly in one direction over a specific point on the earth's surface. They are part of the global pattern of air circulation in the Earth's atmosphere, including the trade winds, monsoons, temperate westerly winds, and polar easterly winds. In areas where global winds are weak, prevailing winds are determined by breeze directions and other local factors. In addition, global winds can deviate from typical directions depending on the presence of obstacles.

To determine the direction prevailing wind the wind rose is used. Knowing the direction of the wind allows you to develop a plan to protect farmland from soil erosion.

Rose of Wind - graphic image frequency of winds of each direction in a given area, plotted as a histogram in polar coordinates. Each dash in the circle shows the frequency of the winds in a particular direction, and each concentric circle corresponds to a specific frequency. The wind rose may contain Additional information, for example, each dash can be colored in different colors corresponding to some range of wind speed. Wind roses more often have 8 or 16 dashes corresponding to the main directions, i.e. north (N), northwest (NW), west (W), etc., or N, NNW, NW, NWW, W, etc. etc., sometimes the number of dashes is 32. If the wind frequency of a certain direction or range of directions significantly exceeds the frequency of wind in other directions, they say that there are prevailing winds in this area.

Climatology

The trade winds and their influence

Westerly winds of the temperate zone and their influence

Temperate westerly winds blow at mid-latitudes between 35 and 65 degrees north or south latitude, in a west–east direction north of the high pressure area, driving extratropical cyclones in the appropriate direction. Moreover, they blow harder in winter, when the pressure over the poles is lower, and weaker in summer.

Westerly winds lead to the development of strong ocean currents in both hemispheres, but especially powerful in the southern hemisphere, where there is less land in the middle latitudes. Western winds play an important role in the transfer of warm equatorial waters and air masses to the western coasts of the continents, especially in the southern hemisphere due to the predominance of oceanic space.

East winds of the polar regions

Main article: East winds of the polar regions

East winds of the polar regions are dry cold winds blowing from the high pressure polar regions to lower latitudes. Unlike trade winds and westerlies, they blow from east to west and are often weak and irregular. Due to the low angle of incidence of the sun's rays, cold air accumulates and settles, creating areas of high pressure, pushing air towards the equator; this flow is deflected to the west by the Coriolis effect.

Influence of local features

Sea breeze

In areas where there are no powerful air currents, the breeze is an important factor in the formation of the prevailing winds. During the day, the sea warms up to a greater depth than land, since water has a higher specific heat capacity, but at the same time much more slowly than the surface of the earth. The temperature of the earth's surface rises, and the air above it heats up. Warm air is less dense and therefore rises. This rise reduces the air pressure above the ground by about 0.2% (at sea level). Cold air over the sea with higher pressure flows towards the land with lower pressure, creating a cool breeze near the coast.

The strength of the sea breeze is directly proportional to the temperature difference between land and sea. At night, the land cools faster than the ocean - also due to differences in their heat capacity. As soon as the temperature of the land falls below the temperature of the sea, there is a night breeze - blowing from land to sea.

winds in mountainous areas

In areas with uneven terrain, the natural direction of the wind can change significantly. In mountainous areas, the distortion of the air flow is more serious. Over the hills and valleys there are strong ascending and descending currents, whirlwinds. If there is a narrow passage in the mountain range, the wind will rush through it at an increased speed, according to the Bernoulli principle. At some distance from the downward air current, the air can remain unstable and turbulent, which is a particular danger to aircraft taking off and landing.

As a result of heating and cooling of hilly slopes during the day, air currents similar to the sea breeze can appear. The hillsides cool down at night. The air above them becomes colder, heavier and sinks into the valley under the influence of gravity. Such a wind is called mountain breeze or katabatic wind. If the slopes are covered with snow and ice, the katabatic wind will blow into the lowlands throughout the day. Hillsides not covered with snow will heat up during the day. Then ascending air flows from a colder valley are formed.

Effect on precipitation

The prevailing winds have a significant effect on the distribution of precipitation near obstacles, such as mountains, that the wind must overcome. On the windward side of the mountains, orographic precipitation occurs due to the rise of air and its adiabatic cooling, as a result of which the moisture contained in it condenses and falls as precipitation. On the contrary, on the lee side of the mountains, the air sinks down and heats up, thus reducing the relative humidity and the likelihood of precipitation, forming rain shadow. As a result, in mountainous areas with prevailing winds, the windward side of the mountains is usually characterized by a humid climate, and the leeward side is arid.

Impact on nature

Predominant winds also affect wildlife, for example, they carry insects, while birds are able to fight the wind and stay on their course. As a result, prevailing winds determine the direction of insect migration. Another impact of wind on nature is erosion. To protect against such erosion, wind barriers are often built in the form of embankments, windbreaks and other obstacles oriented perpendicular to the direction of the prevailing winds to increase efficiency. The prevailing winds also lead to the formation of dunes in desert areas, which can be oriented either perpendicular or parallel to the direction of the winds.

Notes

1. URS (2008). Section 3.2 Climate conditions (in Spanish). Estudio de Impacto Ambiental Subterraneo de Gas Natural Castor. Retrieved on 2009-04-26.
2. wind rose. Archived March 15, 2012 at the Wayback Machine American Meteorological Society. Retrieved on 2009-04-25.
3. Jan Curtis (2007). Wind Rose Data. Natural Resources Conservation Service. Retrieved on 2009-04-26.
4. Glossary of meteorology. trade winds (indefinite) (unavailable link). Glossary of meteorology. American Meteorological Society (2009). Retrieved September 8, 2008. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011.
5. Ralph Stockman Tarr and Frank Morton McMurry (1909). W.W. Shannon, State Printing, pp. 246. Retrieved on 2009-04-15.
6. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (2006). 3.3 JTWC Forecasting Philosophies. United States Navy. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
7. Science Daily (1999-07-14). African Dust Called A Major Factor Affecting Southeast U.S. air quality. Retrieved on 2007-06-10.
8. Glossary of meteorology. Westerlies (indefinite) (unavailable link). American Meteorological Society (2009). Retrieved April 15, 2009. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011.
9. Sue Ferguson. Climatology of the Interior Columbia River Basin (indefinite) (unavailable link). Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (September 7, 2001). Date of treatment September 12, 2009. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011.
10. Halldor Björnsson (2005). global circulation. Archived from the original on June 22, 2012. Veðurstofu Íslands. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
11. Barbie Bischof, Arthur J. Mariano, Edward H. Ryan. The North Atlantic Drift Current (indefinite) . The National Oceanographic Partnership Program (2003). Retrieved September 10, 2008. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011.
12. Erik A. Rasmussen, John Turner. Polar Lows. - Cambridge University Press, 2003. - P. 68.
13. Glossary of Meteorology (2009).

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 even 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 that are closer to the axis of rotation, remained motionless, and located on the sides of the "spinning top" 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 a point is located close to the poles, it makes a smaller circle per day than the one located near 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 of high pressure to areas of lower pressure. 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 typhoon formation, you need to understand that two constant winds blow in each hemisphere of the Earth. 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.

Wind- motion air relative to the underlying surface.

Air- a natural mixture of gases (mainly nitrogen and oxygen - 98-99% in total, as well as carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen, etc.) that forms the earth's atmosphere.

Windsock - the simplest device for determining the speed and direction of the wind, used at airfields

On Earth, wind is a stream of air that moves predominantly in a horizontal direction; on other planets it is a stream of atmospheric gases characteristic of these planets. The strongest winds in the solar system are observed on Neptune and Saturn. The solar wind is the flow of rarefied gases from the star, and the planetary wind is the flow of gases responsible for the degassing of the planetary atmosphere into outer space. Winds are usually classified according to their scale, speed, types of forces that cause them, places of distribution and impact on the environment.

Winds are classified primarily by their strength, duration and direction. Thus, gusts are considered to be short-term (several seconds) and strong movements of air. strong winds medium duration(approximately 1 minute) are called flurries. The names of longer winds depend on the strength, for example, such names are breeze, storm, storm, hurricane, typhoon. The duration of the wind also varies greatly: some thunderstorms can last several minutes, breezes, which depend on the difference in heating features of the terrain throughout the day, last several hours, global winds caused by seasonal temperature changes - monsoons - have a duration of several months, while global winds, caused by the difference in temperature at different latitudes and the Coriolis force, blow constantly and are called trade winds. Monsoons and trade winds are the winds that make up the general and local circulation of the atmosphere.

The winds have always influenced human civilization, they inspired mythological stories, influenced historical action, expanded the range of trade, cultural development and warfare, supplied energy for a variety of mechanisms for energy production and recreation. Thanks to sailing ships that sailed due to the wind, for the first time it became possible to travel long distances across the seas and oceans. Hot air balloons, which also propelled themselves with the wind, made it possible for the first time to go on air travel, and modern aircraft use the wind to increase lift and save fuel. However, winds can also be unsafe, as wind gradients can cause loss of control over the aircraft, fast winds, as well as large waves caused by them, on large bodies of water often lead to the destruction of piece buildings, and in some cases, winds can increase the scale of a fire.

Winds can also influence the formation of relief, causing eolian deposits, which form various types of soils (for example, loess) or erosion. They can carry sand and dust from deserts over long distances. The winds disperse plant seeds and aid the movement of flying animals, which lead to the expansion of species into new territory. Wind-related phenomena affect wildlife in a variety of ways.

Panorama of the aeolian pillars in national park Bryce Canyon (Utah)

Wind arises as a result of an uneven distribution of atmospheric pressure and is directed from a high pressure zone to a low pressure zone. Due to the continuous change in pressure in time and space, the speed and direction of the wind is constantly changing. With height, the wind speed changes due to a decrease in the friction force.

For visual estimation of wind speed, Beaufort scale. The meteorological direction of the wind is indicated by the azimuth of the point from which the wind is blowing; while the aeronautical wind direction is which way it is blowing, so the values ​​differ by 180°. Long-term observations of the direction and strength of the wind are depicted in the form of a graph - wind roses.

In some cases, it is not the wind direction itself that is important, but the position of the object relative to it. So, when hunting an animal with a sharp scent, they approach it from the leeward side - in order to avoid the spread of smell from the hunter towards the animal.

The vertical movement of air is called ascending or downstream.

General patterns

Wind is caused by the difference in pressure between two different air areas. If there is a non-zero pressure gradient (vector characterizing the degree of change in atmospheric pressure in space) , then the wind moves with acceleration from the high pressure zone to the low pressure zone. On a planet that rotates, to this gradient is added Coriolis force (one of the inertial forces acting on an ordered flow of liquid or gas in a rotating non-inertial frame of reference ) . Thus, the main factors that formatmospheric circulation on a global scale is the difference in air heating andsolar wind betweenequatorial and polarareas that cause a difference in temperature and correspondingly,density of air flows, and in turn the difference in pressure (as well as the Coriolis force). As a result of these factors, the movement of air in the middle latitudes in the near-surface region close to the wind leads to the formationgeostrophic wind (is the theoretical wind which is the result of a perfect balance between the Coriolis force and the baric gradient) and its movement, directed almost parallelisobars (uh is a process that occurs at constant pressure) .

An important factor that speaks about the movement of air is its friction on the surface, which delays this movement and forces the air to move towards areas of low pressure. In addition, local barriers and local surface temperature gradients can create local winds. The difference between real and geostrophic wind is called ageostrophic wind. It is responsible for creating chaotic vortex processes such as cyclones and anticyclones . While the direction of the near-surface in tropical and polar regions is determined mainly by the effects of global atmospheric circulation, which are usually weak in temperate latitudes and cyclones, together with anticyclones, replace each other and change their direction every few days.

Global effects of wind formation

Most regions of the Earth are dominated by winds that blow in a particular direction. East winds usually dominate near the poles, westerlies dominate in temperate latitudes, while east winds again dominate in the tropics. On the borders between these belts - the polar front and the subtropical ridge - there are zones of calm, where the prevailing winds are practically absent. In these zones, air movement is predominantly vertical, which creates zones of high humidity (near the polar front) or deserts (near the subtropical ridge).

Passat

Atmospheric circulation

Atmospheric circulation - a system of closed currents of air masses, manifested on a hemispheric or entire scale the globe. Such currents lead to the transfer of matter and energy in the atmosphere in both latitudinal and meridional directions, which is why they are the most important climate-forming process, affecting the weather anywhere on the planet.

Scheme of the global circulation of the atmosphere

The main reason for the circulation of the atmosphere is solar energy and the uneven distribution of it on the surface of the planet, as a result of which different parts of the soil, air and water have different temperatures and, accordingly, different Atmosphere pressure(baric gradient). In addition to the Sun, the movement of air is affected by the rotation of the Earth around its axis and the heterogeneity of its surface, which causes friction of air on the soil and its entrainment.

Air currents vary in scale from tens and hundreds of meters (such movements create local winds) to hundreds and thousands of kilometers, leading to the formation of cyclones, anticyclones, monsoons and trade winds in the troposphere. Predominantly zonal transfers occur in the stratosphere (which causes the existence latitudinal zonality). The global elements of atmospheric circulation are the so-called circulation cells - Hadley cell, Ferrell cell, polar cell.

Hadley cell - this is an element of the circulation of the earth's atmosphere, observed in tropical latitudes. It is characterized by an upward movement near the equator, a poleward flow at a height of 10-15 km, a downward movement in the subtropics, and an equatorward flow near the surface. This circulation is directly related to such phenomena as trade winds, subtropical deserts and high-altitude jet streams.

Hadley cell, one of three atmospheric circulation cells that move heat towards the poles and determine the weather on Earth

The main driving force of atmospheric circulation is the energy of the sun, which, on average, heats the atmosphere more at the equator and less at the poles. Atmospheric circulation carries energy towards the poles, thus reducing the temperature gradient between the equator and the poles. The mechanism by which this is realized differs in tropical and extratropical latitudes.

Between 30°N and 30° S this energy transport is realized due to relatively simple cyclic circulation. Air rises near the equator, travels poleward at the tropopause, descends in the subtropics, and returns to the equator near the surface. At high latitudes, energy is transported by cyclones and anticyclones, which move relatively warm air towards the poles, and cold air towards the equator in the same horizontal plane. A tropical circulation cell is called a Hadley cell.

At the tropopause, as air moves toward the poles, it experiences the Coriolis force, which turns the wind to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere, creating a tropical high-altitude jet stream that is directed from west to east. You can think of this as a ring of air trying to keep its angular momentum in an absolute coordinate system (not rotating with the Earth). As the ring of air travels poleward, it gets closer to the axis of rotation and must spin faster, which creates jet streams that spin faster than the Earth itself, called jet streams and are directed from west to east relative to the surface. Similarly, at the surface, air returning to the equator rotates westward, or slows down from the point of view of a non-rotating observer as it moves away from the axis of rotation. These surface winds are called trade winds.

Ferrell (Ferrel) cell- an element of the circulation of the earth's atmosphere in the temperate zone, located approximately between 30 and 65 degrees north latitude and 30 and 65 degrees south latitude and is limited by a subtropical ridge from the equatorial side and the polar front from the polar. The Ferrell cell is considered a minor circulation element and is completely dependent on the Hadley cell and the polar cell. The theory of the existence of this cell was developed by the American meteorologist William Ferrell in 1856.

In fact, the Ferrell cell acts as a rolling bearing between the Hadley cell and the polar cell, which is why it is sometimes called the mixing zone. At the subpolar boundary, the Ferrell cell can overlap with the polar cell, and at the equatorial boundary, with the Hadley cell. The prevailing surface winds that correspond to this cell are called temperate westerly winds. However, local effects easily change the cell: for example, the Asian anticyclone significantly shifts it to the south, actually making it discontinuous.

Whereas the Hadley cell and the polar cell are closed, the Ferrell cell is not necessarily closed, with the result that mid-latitude westerly winds are not as regular as the trade winds or polar easterly winds and depend on local conditions. Although high-altitude winds are indeed westerly, surface winds change direction frequently and abruptly. The lack of rapid movement towards the poles or the equator does not allow these winds to accelerate, as a result, during the passage of a cyclone or anticyclone, the wind can quickly change direction, and blow in an easterly or other direction during the days.

The location of the cell strongly depends on the location of the corresponding high-altitude jet stream, which determines the location of the band of near-surface cyclones. Although the general movement of air near the surface is limited to about 30 and 65 degrees north and south latitudes, the high-altitude reverse air movement is much less pronounced.

polar cell, or polar vortex- an element of the circulation of the earth's atmosphere in the subpolar regions of the Earth, has the form of a near-surface vortex, which twists to the west, leaving the poles; and a high-altitude vortex swirling to the east.

This is a fairly simple circulation system, driving force which is the difference in the heating of the earth's surface at the poles and at temperate latitudes. Although the air is colder and drier in the polar front region around 60 degrees south and north than in the tropics, it is still warm enough to form a convection current. Air circulation is limited by the troposphere, that is, a layer from the surface to a height of about 8 km. Warm air rises at low latitudes and moves towards the poles in the upper troposphere. Reaching the poles, the air cools and descends, forming a zone of high pressure - a polar anticyclone.

Surface air moves between the high pressure zone of the polar anticyclone and the low pressure zone of the polar front, deviating to the west under the influence of the Coriolis force, as a result of which easterly winds are formed near the surface - easterly winds of the polar regions, surrounding the pole in the form of a vortex.

The flow of air from the poles forms very long waves - Rossby waves - which play an important role in determining the path of the high-altitude jet stream in the upper part of the Ferrell cell, a circulation cell that is found at low latitudes.

prevailing winds

Predominant or prevailing winds- winds that blow predominantly in one direction over a specific point on the earth's surface. They are part of the global pattern of air circulation in the Earth's atmosphere, including trade winds, monsoons, temperate westerly winds, and polar easterly winds. In areas where global winds are weak, prevailing winds are determined by breeze directions and other local factors. In addition, global winds can deviate from typical directions depending on the presence of obstacles.

Influence of the prevailing wind on conifer tree in western Turkey

To determine the direction of the predominant wind is used Rose of Wind. Knowing the direction of the wind allows you to develop a plan to protect farmland from soil erosion.

Sand dunes in coastal and desert locations may orient themselves along or perpendicular to the direction of the constant wind. Insects drift with the wind, and birds can fly regardless of the prevailing wind. The prevailing winds in mountainous areas can lead to significant differences in precipitation on windward (wet) and leeward (dry) slopes.

Rose of Wind- a graphical representation of the frequency of winds of each direction in a given area, built as a histogram in polar coordinates. Each dash in the circle shows the frequency of the winds in a particular direction, and each concentric circle corresponds to a specific frequency. The wind rose can also contain additional information, for example, each dash can be painted in different colors corresponding to a certain range of wind speed. Wind roses more often have 8 or 16 dashes corresponding to the main directions, i.e. north (N), northwest (NW), west (W), etc., or N, NNW, NW, NWW, W, etc. etc., sometimes the number of dashes is 32. If the frequency of the wind of a certain direction or range of directions significantly exceeds the frequency of the wind in other directions, they speak of the presence of predominant winds in this area.

Wind rose of Fresno-Yosemite International Airport, California, 1961-1990

The wind rose is a diagram that characterizes in meteorology and climatology, the wind regime in a given place according to long-term observations and looks like a polygon, in which the lengths of rays diverging from the center of the diagram in different directions (horizon points) are proportional to the frequency of winds of these directions (“from where” the wind blows). The wind rose is taken into account in the construction of runways for airfields, roads, the planning of populated areas (the appropriate orientation of buildings and streets), the assessment of the relative position of the housing estate and the industrial zone (in terms of the direction of the transfer of impurities from the industrial zone) and many other economic tasks (agronomy, forestry and park management, ecology, etc.).

The wind rose, built according to real observational data, makes it possible to identify the direction by the length of the rays of the constructed polygon. dominating, or prevailing wind, from which the air flow most often comes to the area. Therefore, a real wind rose, built on the basis of a series of observations, can have significant differences in the lengths of different rays. What in heraldry is traditionally called the "wind rose" - with a uniform and regular distribution of rays along the azimuths of the cardinal points at a given point - is just a geographical designation of the main geographical azimuths of the sides of the horizon in the form of rays.

Examples of different views

The wind rose, in addition to the direction of the wind, can show the frequency of the winds (discrete according to a certain criterion - per day, per month, per year), as well as the strength of the wind, the duration of the wind (minutes per day, minutes per hour). Moreover, wind roses can exist both to indicate average values ​​and to indicate maximum values. It is also possible to create a complex wind rose, which will contain diagrams of two or more parameters. The examples below show different readings of the charts:

Eight-pointed wind rose

This implies the same arrangement of the cardinal points as on the compass. A point is marked on each of the rays, the distance from which to the center is (on a certain agreed scale) the number of days in the past month when the wind of this direction prevailed. The points on the rays are connected to each other and the resulting polygon is shaded.

16-beam wind rose

The cardinal directions are indicated in the form letters. Each of the 16 rays characterizing a particular direction is depicted as a segment on which the average speed for each wind direction over the past day is marked on a scale.

360-beam wind rose

An image automatically generated by a meteorological program based on instrument readings. The diagram shows graphically the maximum wind speed for the reporting period.

Wind rose with numerical values ​​and additional notes

On each of the rays, the length of the segment is duplicated as a numerical value that describes the number of days for a certain period when the wind of this direction prevailed. The signs at the ends of the segments indicate the maximum wind speed. The number in the center of the diagram characterizes the number of windless days. Judging by the diagram, it can be judged that the period was 90 days, of which 8 days were calm, 70 days were marked on the directions with numbers, the remaining 12 days and two directions, apparently, were considered insignificant and were not marked with numbers.

tropical winds

The trade winds are called the near-surface part of the Hadley cell - the prevailing near-surface winds blowing in the tropical regions of the Earth in a westerly direction, approaching the equator, that is, northeast winds in the Northern Hemisphere and southeast winds in the South. The constant movement of the trade winds leads to the mixing of the Earth's air masses, which can manifest itself on a very large scale: for example, the trade winds blowing over the Atlantic Ocean are capable of carrying dust from the African deserts to the West Indies and parts of North America.

Earth circulation processes that lead to wind formation

The monsoons are the predominant seasonal winds that blow for several months each year in tropical areas. The term originated in British India and surrounding countries as the name of the seasonal winds that blow from the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea to the northeast, bringing significant rainfall to the region. Their movement towards the poles is caused by the formation of areas of low pressure as a result of the heating of tropical regions in summer months, that is, Asia, Africa and North America from May to July, and Australia in December.

trade winds and monsoons are the main factors that lead to the formation of tropical cyclones over the Earth's oceans.

Passat(from Spanish viento de pasada - a wind that favors moving, movement) - a wind blowing between the tropics all year round, in the Northern Hemisphere from the northeast, in the Southern - from the southeast, separated from each other by a calm strip. On the oceans, the trade winds blow with the greatest regularity; on the continents and on the seas adjacent to the latter, their direction is partly modified under the influence of local conditions. In the Indian Ocean, due to the configuration of the coastal continent, the trade winds completely change their character and turn into monsoons.

Wind map over the Atlantic

Due to their constancy and strength in the era of the sailing fleet, the trade winds, along with the westerly winds, were the main factor for building the routes of ships in communication between Europe and the New World.

Due to the action of the sun's rays in the equatorial strip, the lower layers of the atmosphere, heating up more, rise up and tend towards the poles, while new colder air currents come from below from the north and from the south; due to the daily rotation of the Earth according to the Coriolis force, these air currents take a direction in the direction of the southwest (northeast trade wind) in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the direction of the northwest (southeast trade wind) in the Southern Hemisphere. The closer any point on the globe lies to the pole, the smaller the circle it describes per day, and therefore, the less speed it acquires; thus, air masses flowing from higher latitudes, having a lower speed than the points of the earth's surface on the equatorial strip, rotating from west to east, must lag behind them and, therefore, give a flow from east to west. At low latitudes, close to the equator, the difference in velocities for one degree is very insignificant, since the meridian arcs become almost mutually parallel, and therefore in the band between 10 ° N. latitude. and 10° S inflowing layers of air, in contact with earth's surface, acquire the speed of the points of the latter; as a result, near the equator, the northeast trade wind again takes an almost northerly direction, and the southeast trade wind almost south and, meeting each other, give a strip of calm. In the trade winds between 30 ° N.S. and 30° S two trade winds blow in each hemisphere: in the Northern Hemisphere, northeast at the bottom, southwest at the top, southeast at the bottom, and northwest at the top. The upstream is called antipassat, counter trade wind, or upper trade wind. Beyond 30° north and south latitude the upper, coming from the equator, layers of air descend to the surface of the earth and the regularity of the equatorial and polar currents ceases. From the polar boundary of the trade wind (30 °), part of the air mass returns to the equator as the lower trade wind, and the other part flows to higher latitudes and is in the Northern Hemisphere as the southwestern or West wind, and in the South - as a northwest or west wind.

When relatively cold air masses from temperate latitudes enter the subtropics, the air is heated and powerful convective currents develop (the rise of air masses) at a rate of 4 meters per second. Cumulus clouds form. At an altitude of 1200-2000 m, a delay layer is formed: isothermal (temperature does not change with height) or inversion (temperature increases with height). It delays the development of cloudiness, so there is very little precipitation. Only occasionally there are small drops of rain.

lower trade winds between the tropics; on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, were known to the sailors of antiquity. The satellites of Columbus were greatly alarmed by these winds, which carried them non-stop to the west. The correct explanation of the origin of the trade wind was first given by the English astronomer John Hadley (1735). The windless strip moves north or south, depending on the state of the sun at the equator; in the same way, the boundaries of the trade wind region change both in the north and in the south in different times of the year. In the Atlantic Ocean, the northeast trade wind blows in winter and spring between 5° and 27° N, and in summer and autumn between 10° and 30° N. The southeast trade wind reaches 2°N in winter and spring, and 3°N in summer and autumn, thus crossing the equator and gradually turning into a southerly and southwesterly wind. The area of ​​calm between the trade winds in the Atlantic Ocean lies north of the equator and in December and January is 150 nautical miles wide, and in September 550 miles. AT pacific ocean the equatorial boundaries of the trade winds are less variable than in the Atlantic; the northeast trade wind in the Pacific Ocean reaches only 25°N, and in the Atlantic 28°N. In general, the southeast trade wind is stronger than the northeast: it does not encounter any obstacles in vast expanses of water, and this explains why it enters the northern hemisphere.

Monsoon(from Arabic موسم ("māvsim") - season, through French mousson) - steady winds that periodically change their direction; in summer they blow from the ocean, in winter - from land; characteristic of tropical regions and some coastal countries of the temperate zone ( Far East). The monsoon climate is characterized by high humidity in summer.

In each place of the monsoon region during each of the two main seasons there is a wind regime with a pronounced predominance of one direction over the others. At the same time, in another season, the prevailing wind direction will be opposite or close to the opposite. Thus, in each monsoon region there are summer and winter monsoons with mutually opposite or at least sharply different prevailing directions.

Of course, in addition to the winds of the prevailing direction, winds of other directions are observed in each season: the monsoon experiences interruptions. During the transitional seasons, spring and autumn, when the monsoons change, the stability of the wind regime is disturbed.

The stability of the monsoons is associated with a stable distribution of atmospheric pressure during each season, and their seasonal change is associated with fundamental changes in the distribution of pressure from season to season. The prevailing baric gradients sharply change direction from season to season, along with this, the direction of the wind also changes.

In the case of monsoons, as in the case of trade winds, the stability of the distribution does not mean at all that the same anticyclone or the same depression is kept over a given region during the season. For example, in winter over East Asia, a number of anticyclones are successively replaced. But each of these anticyclones persists for a relatively long time, and the number of days with anticyclones significantly exceeds the number of days with cyclones. As a result, an anticyclone is also obtained on a long-term average climate map. The northern wind directions associated with the eastern peripheries of anticyclones prevail over all other wind directions; That's what it is winter east asian monsoon. So, monsoons are observed in those regions where cyclones and anticyclones have sufficient stability and a sharp seasonal predominance of one over the other. In the same areas of the Earth, where cyclones and anticyclones quickly replace each other and slightly prevail one over the other, the wind regime is changeable and does not look like a monsoon. This is the case in most of Europe as well.

In summer, monsoons blow from the ocean to the continents, in winter - from the continents to the oceans; characteristic of tropical regions and some coastal countries of the temperate zone (for example, the Far East). Monsoons have the greatest stability and wind speed in some areas of the tropics (especially in equatorial Africa, the countries of South and Southeast Asia and in the Southern Hemisphere up to the northern parts of Madagascar and Australia). In a weaker form and in limited areas, monsoons are also found in subtropical latitudes (in particular, in the south mediterranean sea and in North Africa, in the Gulf of Mexico, in eastern Asia, in South America, in southern Africa and Australia).

Above the ridge Vindhya (India)

Kolkata (India)

Arizona (USA)

Darwin (Australia)

Temperate westerly winds— prevailing winds blowing in the temperate zone between approximately 35 and 65 degrees north and south latitude, from the subtropical ridge to the polar front, part of the global atmospheric circulation processes and the near-surface part of the Ferrell cell. These winds blow predominantly from west to east, more specifically from the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere and from the northwest in the Southern Hemisphere, and can form extratropical cyclones at their margins where the wind speed gradient is high. Tropical cyclones that enter these winds through the subtropical ridge, losing strength, are re-intensified due to the speed gradient of the temperate westerly winds.

Map of the trade winds and westerly winds of the temperate zone

The westerly winds of the temperate zone are stronger in winter, when the pressure over the poles is lower, and weaker in summer. These winds are strongest in the Southern Hemisphere, where there is less land to deflect or delay the wind. A band of strong temperate westerly winds is located between 40 and 50 degrees south latitude and is known as the "Roaring Forties". These winds play an important role in the formation of ocean currents that carry warm equatorial waters to the western coasts of the continents, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.

Map of the Gulf Stream by Benjamin Franklin

East winds of the polar regions, the near-surface part of the polar cells, are predominantly dry winds blowing from near-polar high-pressure zones to low-pressure regions along the polar front.

These winds are generally weaker and less regular than mid-latitude westerly winds. Due to the small amount solar heat, the air in the polar regions cools and sinks, forming areas of high pressure and pushing the subpolar air towards lower latitudes. This air, as a result of the Coriolis force, is deflected to the west, forming northeasterly winds in the Northern Hemisphere and southeasterly winds in the Southern Hemisphere.

Local effects of wind formation arise depending on the presence of local geographical objects. One such effect is the temperature difference between not very distant areas, which can be caused by different absorption coefficients of sunlight or different heat capacities of the surface. The latter effect is strongest between land and water and causes a breeze. Another important local factor is the presence of mountains, which act as a barrier to the winds.

The most important local winds on Earth

local winds - winds that differ in some features from the main character of the general circulation of the atmosphere, but, like constant winds, regularly repeating and having a noticeable effect on the weather regime in a limited part of the landscape or water area.

The local winds are breeze, changing its direction twice a day, mountain-valley winds, bora, hair dryer, dry wind, simum and many others.

The occurrence of local winds is mainly due to the difference in temperature conditions over large reservoirs (breezes) or mountains, their spread relative to the general circulation flows and the location of mountain valleys (foehn, bora, mountain-valley), as well as a change in the general circulation of the atmosphere local conditions(sumum, sirocco, khamsin). Some of them are essentially air currents of the general circulation of the atmosphere, but in a certain area they have special properties, and therefore they are referred to as local winds and given their own names.

For example, only in Lake Baikal, due to the difference in warming of water and land and the complex location of steep ridges with deep valleys, at least 5 local winds are distinguished: barguzin - a warm northeast wind, mountain - a northwest wind that causes powerful storms, sarma - a sudden westerly wind, reaching hurricane force up to 80 m / s, valley - southwestern kultuk and southeastern shelonik.

Afghan

Afghan - dry, baking local wind, with dust that blows in Central Asia. It has a southwestern character and blows in the upper reaches of the Amu Darya. It blows from several days to several weeks. Early spring with showers. Very aggressive. In Afghanistan it is called kara-buran, which means black storm or shuravi bodysuit - Soviet wind.

Biza

Biza (Bise) - cold and dry north or northeast wind in the mountainous regions of France and Switzerland. Bizet is similar to Bora.

Bora

Bora (ital. bora, from Greek. βορέας - north wind; Borey - cold north wind) - a strong cold gusty local wind that occurs when a stream of cold air meets a hill on its way; having overcome the obstacle, the bora with great force falls on the coast. The vertical dimensions of the bur are several hundred meters. Affects, as a rule, small areas where low mountains directly border the sea.

Scheme of the origin of boron

In Russia, the pine forests of the Novorossiysk Bay and the Gelendzhik Bay (where they have a northeasterly direction and blow more than 40 days a year), Novaya Zemlya, the shores of Lake Baikal (sarma near the Olkhon Gates Strait), the Chukotka city of Pevek (the so-called "Yuzhak" ).

Consequences of bora, Novorossiysk, November 11, 1993

Shipwreck as a result of bora, Novorossiysk, 1993

Novorossiysk, 1997

In Europe, the most famous are the forests of the Adriatic Sea (near the cities of Trieste, Rijeka, Zadar, Senj, etc.). In Croatia the wind is called bura. The “north” wind in the Baku region, the mistral on the Mediterranean coast of France from Montpellier to Toulon, and the “northser” wind in the Gulf of Mexico are similar to the bora. The duration of the bora is from a day to a week. The daily temperature difference during bora can reach 40°C.

Bora

Bora occurs in Novorossiysk and the Adriatic coast when a cold front approaches the coastal ridge from the northeast. The cold front immediately rolls over a low ridge. Under the influence of gravity, cold air falls down the mountain range while gaining more speed.

Before the appearance of the bora at the tops of the mountains, one can observe thick clouds, which the inhabitants of Novorossiysk call "beard". Initially, the wind is extremely unstable, changing direction and strength, but gradually acquires a certain direction and tremendous speed - up to 60 m / s at the Markothsky Pass near Novorossiysk. In 1928, a wind gust of 80 m/s was recorded. On average, the wind speed during bora reaches more than 20 m/s in the Novorossiysk region in winter. Falling on the surface of the water, this downward current causes a gale that causes severe seas. At the same time, the air temperature drops sharply, which was above warm sea high enough.

Sometimes bora causes significant damage in the coastal strip (for example, in Novorossiysk in 2002, bora caused the death of several dozen people); at sea, the wind contributes to strong excitement; the intensified waves flood the shores and also bring destruction; in severe frosts (in Novorossiysk about -20 ... -24 ° C), they freeze, and an ice crust forms (in the Adriatic, the only place where an ice crust forms is the city of Sen). Sometimes bora is felt even far from the coast (in the Black Sea, 10-15 kilometers inland, in the Adriatic, at some synoptic positions, it covers a significant part of the sea).

The varieties of boron are tramontana, sarma.

Tramontana (ital. tramontana - "beyond the mountains" ) is a cold north and northeast wind in Italy, Spain, France and Croatia. It is a variation of the Bora wind. It arises from the difference between high pressure in mainland Europe and low pressure in the Mediterranean Sea. Tramontana can reach speeds of up to 130 km / h.

Tramontana clouds, southern France

The form of the name is slightly different in each country. AT English language passed from Italian (tramontana), which, in turn, is a modified Latin word trānsmontānus (trāns- + montānus). In Catalonia and Croatia the wind is called Tramuntana. In Spain, on the island of Majorca (Mallorca), there is a mountainous region of the Serra de Tramuntana. Serra de Tramuntana (Serra de Tramuntana) - Catalan version, Sierra de Tramontana (Sierra de Tramontana) - Spanish version of the name of these mountains. In Croatia, the northern tip of the island of Cres is called Tramontana.

Breeze

Breeze (fr. brise) - the wind that blows on the coast of the seas and large lakes. The direction of the breeze changes twice a day: the daytime (or sea) breeze blows from the sea to the coast heated by the daytime rays of the Sun. The night (or coastal) breeze has the opposite direction.

A: Sea breeze (day), B: Coastal breeze (night)

The speed of the breeze is small, and is 1-5 m/s, rarely more. The breeze is noticeable only in conditions of weak general air transport, as a rule, in the tropics, and in the middle latitudes - in stable calm weather. The vertical height (thickness) of the air layer is up to 1–2 km during the day, and somewhat less at night. At higher altitudes, reverse flow is observed - antibreeze. Breeze circulation affects coastal and sea areas 10–50 km wide. The sea breeze lowers the air temperature during the daytime and makes the air more humid. The breeze is more common in summer, when the temperature difference between land and water reaches its greatest values.

Garmsil

Garmsil (taj. Garmsel) is a dry and hot wind of the type hair dryer, blowing mainly in summer from the south and southeast in the foothills of the Kopetdag and the Western Tien Shan.

Föhn (German Fohn, from lat. favonius- the Roman equivalent of Zephyr) - a strong, gusty, warm and dry local wind blowing from the mountains into the valleys.

Cold air from the highlands quickly descends down the relatively narrow intermountain valleys, which leads to its adiabatic heating. For every 100 m lowered, the air heats up by about 1°C. Descending from a height of 2500 m, it heats up by 25 degrees and becomes warm, even hot. Usually the hair dryer lasts less than a day, but sometimes the duration reaches 5 days, and temperature changes and relative humidity air can be fast and sharp.

Foehns are especially frequent in spring, when the intensity of the general circulation of air masses increases sharply. Unlike the foehn, when masses of dense cold air invade, boron is formed.

The name of this wind has become a household name for a household electrical appliance for drying hair - a hair dryer. The word entered our speech in a slightly distorted form due to inaccurate transliteration of the German trademark Fön, under which these electrical appliances have been produced since 1908.

(To be continued)

The wind is one of the most unique natural phenomena. We cannot see it, touch it, but we are able to observe the results of its manifestation, for example, how it slowly or quickly drives clouds and clouds across the sky, with its power tilts trees to the ground or slightly ruffles foliage.

Wind concept

What is wind? The definition from the point of view of meteorology is as follows: this is the horizontal movement of layers of air from a zone with high atmospheric pressure to a zone of low pressure, accompanied by a certain speed. This movement occurs because during the day the sun penetrates the Earth's air layer. Some rays, reaching the surface, heat the oceans, seas, rivers, mountains, soil, rocks and stones, which give off heat to the air, thereby heating it as well. For the same amount of time, dark objects absorb more heat and warm up more.

But what does it matter how heat is given off and how quickly? And how does this help us figure out what wind is? The definition is as follows: land heats up more rapidly than water, which means that the air accumulated above it receives heat from it and rises, therefore, the atmospheric pressure over this area drops. With water, everything is exactly the opposite: above it, the air masses are colder and the pressure is higher. As a result, cold air is displaced from the area of ​​high pressure to the area of ​​low pressure, forming a wind. The greater the difference between these pressures, the stronger it is.

Types of winds

Having dealt with what wind is, you need to find out how many of its types exist and how they differ from each other. There are three main groups of winds:

• local;
• permanent;
• regional.

Local winds correspond to their name and blow only in certain areas of our planet. Their appearance is associated with the specifics of local reliefs and temperature changes in relatively short periods of time. These winds are characterized by short duration and diurnal periodicity.

What is a wind of local origin is now clear, but it is also divided into its subspecies:

• A breeze is a light wind that changes direction twice a day. During the day it blows from the sea to the land, and vice versa at night.
• Bora is a high-velocity cold air current that blows from the tops of mountains to valleys or coasts. He is fickle.
• Föhn is a warm and light spring wind.
• Dry wind is a dry wind that prevails in the steppe regions during the warm period of time under anticyclone conditions. He foretells drought.
• Sirocco - rapid southern, southwestern air currents that form in the Sahara.
• What is the khamsin wind? These are dusty, dry and hot air masses that prevail in northeast Africa and the east of the Mediterranean.

Constant winds are those that depend on the total circulation of air. They are stable, uniform, constant and strong. They belong to:

• trade winds - winds from the east, are distinguished by constancy, not changing direction and strength of 3-4 points;
• antitrade winds - winds from the west, carrying huge air masses.

The regional wind appears as a result of pressure drops, a bit like the local one, but more stable and powerful. A prominent representative of this species is the monsoon, which originates in the tropics, at the turn of the ocean. It blows periodically, but in large streams, changing its direction a couple of times a year: in the summer season - from water to land, in winter - vice versa. The monsoon brings a lot of moisture in the form of rain.

Strong wind is...

What is a strong wind and how does it differ from other streams? Its most important feature is its high speed, which ranges from 14-32 m/s. It produces devastating actions or brings damage, destruction. In addition to speed, temperature, direction, location and duration also matter.

Types of strong winds

• A typhoon (hurricane) is accompanied by intense precipitation and a drop in temperature, great strength, speed (177 km / h or more), blows at a distance of 20-200 m for several days.
• What is a wind called a squall? This is a sharp, sudden flow at a speed of 72-108 km / h, which is formed during the hot period as a result of the powerful penetration of cold air into warm zones. It blows for a couple of seconds or tens of minutes, changing direction, and brings a decrease in temperature.
• Storm: its speed is 103-120 km/h. It is characterized by high duration, strength. He is the source of strong sea vibrations and destruction on land.

• Tornado (tornado) is an air whirlwind, visually similar to a dark column along which a curved axis passes. At the bottom and top of the column there are expansions similar to a funnel. The air in the vortex rotates counterclockwise at a speed of 300 km / h and draws all nearby objects, objects into its funnel. The pressure inside the tornado is reduced. The column reaches a height of 1500 m, and its diameter is from a dozen (above water) to hundreds of meters (above land). A tornado can travel from a couple of hundred meters to tens of kilometers at a speed of 60 km/h.
• A storm is an air mass, the speed of which is in the range of 62-100 km/h. Storms abundantly cover the area with sand, dust, snow, earth, causing harm to people and the economy.

Description of wind power

When answering the question of what wind force is, it would be appropriate to note that here the concept of force is interconnected with speed: the higher it is, the stronger the wind. This indicator is measured on a 13-point Beaufort scale. Zero value characterizes calm, 3 points - light, weak wind, 7 - powerful, 9 - the appearance of a storm, more than nine - merciless storms, hurricanes. Strong winds they often blow over the sea, ocean, because nothing interferes with them here, unlike rocky mountains, hills, forests.

Definition of the solar wind

What is solar wind? This is an amazing phenomenon. Ionized plasma particles flow out of the solar corona (outer layer) into space with a speed range of 300-1200 km/s, which depends on the activity of the Sun.

There are slow (400 km/s), fast (700 km/s), high-speed (up to 1200 km/s) solar winds. They form an area with space around the central celestial body, which protects the solar system from interstellar gas entering it. In addition, thanks to them, such phenomena as the radiation belt and the aurora borealis occur on our planet. That's what the solar wind is.