Woah! Whats that Wind!
A Local News Update, By: Jaydin Parker
Whats Wind?
The General Stuff:
Have you ever wondered what the breeze blowing on your face, on a chilly Autumn morning? Wind is the movement of air from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. Wind is usually caused by the unequal heating of earths surface. Winds can be good or bad, but sometimes it's good to know the science behind them. Keep reading to find out more.
Local Winds
Think of it as a wind that blows over a small area. Local Winds are created by the unequal heating of earths surface, there are 2 main types, there called shore breezes. One would be called a Sea Breeze, and The other one, you could probably guess, A Land Breeze. A Sea breeze is a wind that blows from an ocean (sea) or lake towards land. It's a difficult process when you look at it but, trust me it gets easier. Sea breezes happen during the day, while the sun is out, and the land warms up faster than the water. As you may know, warm air is warm, so it rises. Although, you can't have an open space of no air, so the cold air comes to take its place. The air over the land is warmer, then the land over the sea. It is also lighter over the land and heavier over the water. After the cold air takes it place the warm air that was warm falls over the sea and the cycle continues, but the earth isn't perfect so the breeze is created hear. Different from the Sea Breeze, a Land Breeze happens at night. This is because there is no sun to warm the land, so instead the water is warm. Causing the air over the water to be, less dense and to rise. The air over the land is cooler, though, and heavier and will fill the place of the warm air when it rises. It is also very important to understand that the convection current happening in the day will travel the opposite direction of the convection current in the night, (as you can see in the first 2 diagrams below). See, told you it was easy!
Sea Breeze
Happening During the Day
Land Breeze
Happening During the Evening
Local Winds in Africa
As you can see Local Winds only happen on a small area, compared to a Global Wind.
Global Winds
Think of, a wind that blows over a large area. Like Local Winds, Global Winds are also caused by the unequal heating of earths surface. If you have ever heard of Convection you will have an easy time understanding this process, because of the different temperatures between the equator and the poles they produce giant convection currents in the atmosphere. Warm air rises to the equator and cool air sinks to the poles. Making air pressure lower near the equator, and higher near the poles. A Horse Latitude, wow! A Horse latitude is an area of calm falling air. The Horse latitudes actually have a pretty interesting story behind them. Hundreds of years ago, sailors becalmed in these waters ran out of food and water for their horses and had to throw their horses over board, because of this, the latitudes 30 degrees north and south of the equator came to be the Horse Latitudes.
Global Winds (Cont.)
There are many types of Global Winds, as you may know they happen all over the globe, so we need to have classifications for them, here are 3. Trade Winds, sounds like a funny name, right? Trade Winds are winds that blow in the Northern Hemisphere toward the equator from 30 degrees north latitude. Trade Winds blow west toward the equator. Another type of Global Wind would be Jet Streams. Jet Streams are interesting because they help airplanes. Jet Streams are winds that blow a stream of wind around the earth. Their 100's of kilometers wide, and blow at 200 to 400 kilometers per hour. If you have ever took and airplane east to west, going somewhere, it may seem like a slow ride because your trying to fly toward/into the stream. Although, on the fly back home, (West to East) it may seem faster because the stream is pushing you along. Now, Polar Easterlies, they are simply, winds that blow at the poles and curve eastward. Polar easterlies blow cold air away from the poles at 60-90 degrees north or south. Global winds are a hard concept to learn but when you learn their science its really simple!
Trade Winds
Trade Winds are located 30 degrees North or South, and blow at the top of the troposphere.
Jet Streams
Jet streams blow from west to east, which help speed up a airplanes travel back home.
Polar Easterlies
Polar Easterlies, blow at the poles, they blow east, Hence; their name.
Did You Get That....?
Image that gently breeze, blowing across your face on that chilly Autumn morning. Now, you know, all the real science behind that wind, and what it all means. That's it folks, you heard it here first, I hope you learned something. (A Local News Update, By: Jaydin Parker, a slightly less professional news article writer!).