Winds
By: Mardiya Amadou
General Information on Wind
Wind is the sideways movement of air that is caused by the differences in air pressure on the earth's surface.
Information on Local Winds
Local winds are winds that blow over a short distance. The unequal heating usually happens near lakes and ocean coasts. A cool breeze blowing in from the ocean would be a good example of a local wind.
Information on Sea Breezes
A sea breeze is a local wind that blows from an ocean. This usually happens during the day. The warm air over the land heats up faster so it rises and starts to expand. As the air rises it starts to cool down while it's moving over the cooler water causing it to become high pressure. The cooler air begins to sink because it is more dense causing more cool air to blow inland.
Information on Land Breezes
A land breeze is a local wind that blows from land over to a body of water. This pretty much always happens at night. Since land cools faster than water, particles in the air over the land are denser and that sinks over the land. The cool air moves beneath the warmer ocean air. The warm air over the water starts to expand. The air then rises. The denser air is at a higher pressure so it begins to sink over the land now.
Information on Global winds
Global winds move across the whole world. Most of the time global winds blow at the same speed and same direction. Some of the global winds blow way up in the atmosphere so you can't always feel them on the ground. The sun heats the Earth unequally, so when the Earth rotates from east to west it makes the global winds curve. The way the winds curve is called the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect makes winds in the northern hemisphere curve to the right and winds from the southern hemisphere to curve to the left.
Horse Latitudes
Horse latitudes are calm areas of warm air falling. Horse latitudes can be found between wind belts. A fun fact about horse latitudes is that way back before our time, pirates would sail around these parts of the ocean and they would throw horses overboard to get more speed. It might sound sad but they needed to get rid of some extra weight because there was no wind blowing at all for them to move.
Prevailing Westerlies
Prevailing westerlies are winds that blow from the west to the east between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. This happens in both northern and southern hemispheres. Since the winds always blow from the west they are called prevailing westerlies.
Jet Streams
Jet streams are high speed winds that blow at the top of the stratosphere. Jet streams are hundreds of kilometers wide and they blow at speeds of 200 to 400 kilometers per hour. Airplanes traveling west to east in the jet streams gain more wind because there is more wind blowing against it causing it to have a smoother and faster ride.