Types of Wind

Types of Wind By:Tristin McDoNell

What is Wind?

Wind is a natural movement of the air, especially in the form of a current of air blowing from a particular direction.

Global Winds

Global wind pattern, winds are named by the direction from which they blow. The globe is encircled by six major wind belts, three in each hemisphere. From pole to the equator, they are polar easterlies, the westerlies, and the trade winds.

Global Convection Currents

Convection currents on a large scale cause global winds; convection currents on a small scale cause local winds.

The Coriolanus Effect

Hypothetical force used to explain rotating systems, such as the movement of air or water over the surface of the rotating earth is directed clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

Global Wind Belts

The global wind pattern is also known as the "general circulation" and the surface winds of each hemisphere are divided into three wind belts, Polar Easterlies- from 60-90 degrees latitude. Prevailing Westerlies- from 30-60 degrees latitude.

Doldrums

an equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds.

Horse Latitudes

A belt of calm air and sea occurring in both the northern and southern hemispheres between the trade winds and the westerlies.

Trade Winds

Wind blowing steadily toward the equator from the northeast in the northern hemisphere or the southeast in the southern hemisphere, especially at sea. Two belts of trade winds encircle the earth, blowing from the tropical high-pressure belts to the low-pressure zone at the equator.

Prevailing Westerlies

Prevailing Westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes and tend towards the poles and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner.

Polar Easterlies

Polar easterlies are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles towards low-pressure areas within the Westerlies at high latitudes.

Jet Streams

Jet streams are fast flowing, relatively narrow air currents found in the atmosphere around 10 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. They form at the boundaries of adjacent air masses with significant differences in temperature, such as the polar region and the warmer air to the south.

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by LoggaWiggler - "pinwheel energy wind power" • RalfBeck - "sea ocean palm trees" • NASA Goddard Photo and Video - "Tracking a Superstorm [hd video]" • NASA Goddard Photo and Video - "Midget typhoon in the western Pacific Ocean" • tpsdave - "wind farm farm rural" • Atmospheric Infrared Sounder - "Belt of Carbon Dioxide in Southern Hemisphere with Winds, July 2003" • NASA Goddard Photo and Video - "Watching a Train of Storminess in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean" • NASA Goddard Photo and Video - "Full Disk view of Earth Captures Oklahoma Tornado" • Pexels - "energy field grass" • NASA Earth Observatory - "Finding the Hottest Spots on Earth by Satellite" • NASA Goddard Photo and Video - "Satellite Image Shows Entry of the Polar Vortex into the Northern U.S." • NASA Goddard Photo and Video - "Tracking a Superstorm [hd video]"

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