GEOG 1290 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Trade Winds, Westerlies, Polar Front
17 Oct 2014
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Document Summary
Seven surface components: polar high, polar easterlies, polar front (sub-polar low, westerlies, subtropical high, trade winds, inter-tropical convergence zone. Dynamic high pressure air masses: descending limbs of distinct cells of vertical circulation in tropical latitudes, develop from descending air of hadley cells, source for trade winds and westerly winds. Trade winds: the first of three broad-scale wind belts, equator-ward sides of sths (25 degrees north to south, prominent over oceans but interrupted over land. Dominate the globe: named from the direction they"re blown form. N. hemisphere originate in northeast so it"s called northeast trades : indian ocean winds change due to monsoons, tropical coastal areas are typically breezy, trades do not produce rain unless forced to rise. Trade winds are heavily laden with moisture. Do not produce rain unless forced to rise. If they rise, produce tremendous precipitation and storm conditions. Windward slops in trade winds are some of the wettest places on.
