Heating the Earth
• Weather is the daily
conditions of the
atmosphere
• The factors that interact to
cause weather are heat
energy, air pressure, winds,
and moisture
Atmospheric Circulation
• Coriolis Effect is the tendency for an object to
follow a curved path rather than straight due to the
rotation of the Earth.
• Deflected to the right in the
Northern hemisphere, left in
the Southern Hemisphere
• Only affects fast moving objects
and large objects
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/brainbites/nonflash/bb_home_corioliseffect.html
Global Winds
http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/tlw3/eBridge/Chp29/animations/ch29/global_wind_circulation.swf
Trade Winds
• The winds that flow toward the equator between 0º
and 30º
• Northeast Trade winds in the Northern Hemisphere
and Southeast trade winds in the southern
Hemisphere
Westerlies
• The winds that flow between 30º to 60º
• In the Northern Hemisphere these are southwest
winds and in the Southern Hemisphere they are
northwest winds
• These are the winds responsible
for most of the weather
conditions in the US
Polar Easterlies
• These winds blow toward the poles from 60º to 90º
• In the Northern Hemisphere the winds are southwest
winds and in the Southern Hemisphere northwest winds
• The winds are the strongest where they flow off Antarctic
The Doldrums and the Horse Latitudes
• The area where the Trade winds meet at the equator
is know as the Doldrums
• These are warm low pressure winds
• The area where the Trade Winds and the westerlies
meet is called the Horse Latitudes
• These winds are subtropical and high pressure winds
Jet Stream
• These winds are narrow bands of fast moving winds that
blow in both hemispheres
• They are found in the upper troposphere and lower
stratosphere
• The Polar jets can blow up to 500km/hr and can change
latitude bringing cold air with them
• The subtropical jet stream do not
change in speed or position
Local Winds
• Land and sea breezes
• Mountain and valley breezes