How do worldwide wind currents form

The Earth's rotation on its axis prevents air currents from flowing directly north and south from the equator. Instead, these air currents are deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere, a phenomenon called the Coriolis Effect.

With this rotation, three air circulation cells between the equator and the poles are created that keep the warm and cold air currents circulating in loops that feed each other.

Meteorologists identify these as the Hadley Cell between the equator and latitude 30 degrees, the Ferrel Cell between latitudes 30 and 60, and the polar cell between latitudes 60 and When warm air masses in the south abruptly meet cool air masses from the north, the high air pressure gradients create very high wind speeds known as the jet stream, a narrow band of air that flows from west to east around the Earth at speeds reaching miles per hour.

Although the jet stream typically flows at 20, feet or more, the high wind speeds can still influence weather patterns on the surface.

David Barber has been a print and radio journalist since Troposphere: The troposphere is the layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth's surface. Stratosphere: After the troposphere is the stratosphere. This level is where jets fly. At the center of high-pressure areas, dry air descends from above, producing fair weather. On a smaller scale, colliding wind patterns can produce convergence, in which air also has nowhere to go but up.

If one of the winds is a humid flow from a warm ocean such as the Gulf of Mexico, the result can be powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes. All rights reserved. Global Patterns Similar forces produce global wind patterns that affect climate.

Highs and Lows Within the mid-latitudes, weather effects create high- and low-pressure zones, called highs and lows , respectively. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.

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Epic floods leave South Sudanese to face disease and starvation. Travel 5 pandemic tech innovations that will change travel forever These digital innovations will make your next trip safer and more efficient. But will they invade your privacy? Go Further. Here the sky is clear. There are few clouds and little rainfall. Winds are calm. These are called the horse latitudes, because when food ran out, sailors had to throw horses overboard.

At the horse latitudes some of the sinking air travels back toward the equator. The air moving back toward the equator forms warm, steady winds, known as the trade winds.

Prevailing Westerlies — Some of the cool, sinking air continues to move toward the North and South. Coastal communities are usually much cooler than their inland neighbors. Rain shadow s are created as wind interacts with a mountain range. As wind approaches a mountain, it brings moisture with it, which condense s as rain and other precipitation before coming over the crest of the mountain.

Winds also help drive ocean surface currents around the world. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current transports cold, nutrient-rich water around Antarctica.

Due to the Gulf Stream, Northern Europe enjoys a much warmer, milder climate than other areas at similar latitudes, such as the U. Impact on Ecology Wind has the power to move particles of earth—usually dust or sand—in great quantities, and over far distances.

Dust from the Sahara crosses the Atlantic to create hazy sunsets in the Caribbean. Winds transport volcanic ash and debris for thousands of kilometers. The massive eruption of Krakatoa, an island volcano in Indonesia, had even more dramatic atmospheric results. Winds carried volcanic ash and debris high in the atmosphere across the globe. Europe endured years of cold, damp summers and pink sunsets. In some cases, this takes places in the desert, as sand dune s migrate and change shape over time.

The Altiplano region of South America has dramatically shaped ventifact s—rocks carved by the wind-driven sand and ice. Loess , a sediment that can develop into one of the richest soils for farming, is easily swept up by wind. Even when farmers take precautions to protect it, the wind can erode up to 2. The most famous example of this devastating windstorm is probably the Dust Bowl of s North America. Dust Bowl storms could reduce visibility to a few feet, and earned names like "Black Blizzards.

However devastating to the economy, wind is an important way plants disperse seed s. This form of seed dispersal is called anemochory. Plants that rely on anemochory produce hundreds and even thousands of seeds.

Some of the most familiar seeds dispersed by the wind are those of the fuzzy dandelion. Wind Energy Wind has been used as a source of energy for more than a thousand years—it has pushed ships around the globe and been captured in windmill s to pump water; it has turned giant stones to grind grains, make paper, saw logs, and crush ore. Today, most wind energy is used to generate electricity for homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, and industry. Wind is a renewable resource that does not directly cause pollution.

Wind energy is harnessed through powerful turbine s. Wind turbines have a tall tubular tower with two or three propeller-like blades rotating at the top. When the wind turns the blades, the blades turn a generator and create electricity. Often, wind turbines are collected in windy areas in arrays known as wind farm s. Many wind farms have been established on mountains, in valleys, and offshore, as the air from the ocean interacts with land-air. Some people think wind turbines are ugly and complain about the noise they make.

The slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and bats—but not nearly as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings. The economic drawback to wind farms, however, is the wind itself. If it's not blowing, there's no electricity generated. Still, use of wind energy has more than quadrupled between and Germany has the most installed wind energy capacity, followed by Spain, the United States, India, and Denmark. Development is also growing quickly in France and China. Kamikaze Like the Protestant Wind, kamikaze were specific historical winds.

Kamikazetranslated as divine windswere major typhoons that destroyed the invading Mongolian Navy off the coast of Japan in the late s. In the 20th century, kamikaze became the informal name for suicide attacks during World War II.

The official name for kamikaze strategy is tokktai. Protestant Wind The Protestant Wind refers to the lucky weather encountered by the British Navy of the 16thth centuries. Britain had just become a Protestant nation. Anemoi Deities representing the winds play an important role in mythologies around the world.

In Europe, ancient Greek myths refer to the Anemoi , or wind gods, as Boreas north wind , Eurus east wind , Notus south wind , and Zephyrus west wind. In Aztec mythology, the four wind gods were Mictlanpachecatl north wind , Tlalocayotl east wind , Vitztlampaehecatl south wind , and Cihuatecayotl west wind. Many people were confined to their homes for a week. The devastation and inconvenience led urban leaders to invest in the creation of the first subway system in the U. Age of Sail The ability of ships to sail with powerful trade winds helped determine the political and engineering history of the Age of Exploration, sometimes nicknamed the Age of Sail.

Spanish, Portuguese, and British ships were quick, relatively easy to maneuver, and their large, complex series of sails exploited trade winds and southern westerlies to travel across the ocean.

Chicago is a lakeside city that experiences cool breezes coming off Lake Michigan. It is not, however, any windier than most other cities. The nickname most likely came from Chicagos relationship with Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 19th century.

Their industrial economies, as well as their baseball teams, were fiercely competitive. Cincinnati leaders dismissed Chicago baseball players and businesses as being insubstantial and meaninglesswindy and full of hot air. Extraterrestrial Winds The same forces that cause winds on Earthuneven heating by the sun and the planets rotationcause other planets to develop strong winds.

Jupiters famous Great Red Spot is actually a centuries-old hurricane-like storm, swirling at around kph mph. The strongest winds in the solar system, however, belong to its outermost planet, Neptune. Neptunian winds whip at speeds up to 2, kph 1, mph. Extrasolar planets those outside our solar system have even faster winds.

The extrasolar planets of 51 Pegasi have winds that blow 14, kph 9, mph! Gone with the Loo There are dozens of names for winds that blow through specific regions.

Some, like the noreasters that blow from the northeast down the East Coast, are not creatively named. Here are some others: barber : cold, moisture-laden wind that freezes on contact with hair and beards.

Coromuel : strong, warm wind that blows from afternoon to early morning through La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. The wind was named after British sailor Samuel Cromwell, whose name the locals could not pronounce. Hawk : strong, cool breeze blowing westward through Chicago from Lake Michigan. The Levant, the Mideast region in the eastern Mediterranean, does not experience the levant.

Loo : strong, hot summer wind that blows across northern India from the arid deserts to the west, and is only stopped by the arrival of the monsoon. The Loo is such a powerful ecological and cultural force that ice creams and sherbets are consumed to combat Loo-induced fatigue.

November witch : hurricane-force winds that develop as cold Arctic air masses meet warm air from the Gulf over the Great Lakes. Pembrokeshire Dangler : area where prevailing winds converge and cause a line of cold rain and snow to dangle north-south across the Irish Sea. Santa Anas : hot, dry winds that blow from the deserts and mountains of inland California to the coast. Santa Anas are often responsible for spreading Southern Californias destructive wildfires, earning them the nickname murder winds.

Siroccos carry tons of dust and sand throughout northern Africa, and contribute to wet weather as they reach Europe. Also called the West Wind Drift. The Coriolis effect makes storms swirl clockwise in the Southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.

Usually, hurricanes refer to cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean. High-pressure systems are usually associated with clear weather.

Hurricanes are the same thing as typhoons, but usually located in the Atlantic Ocean region. Also known as the Monsoon Zone.

Low-pressure systems are often associated with storms. Also called a temperate zone. Monsoon usually refers to the winds of the Indian Ocean and South Asia, which often bring heavy rains. Also called a storm tide.

Tropical storms are less powerful than cyclones and hurricanes. Typhoons are the same thing as hurricanes, but usually located in the Pacific or Indian Ocean region.

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