19.air Pressure and Wind
19.air Pressure and Wind
19.air Pressure and Wind
EARTH SCIENCE
Tarbuck Lutgens
Chapter Air Pressure and
Wind
19
19.1 Understanding Air Pressure
Global Winds
The atmosphere balances these differences
by acting as a giant heat-transfer system.
This system moves warm air toward high
latitudes and cool air toward the equator.
Global Winds
Rotating Earth Model
• If the effect of rotation were added to the global
circulation model, the two-cell convection system
would break down into smaller cells.
• Trade winds are two belts of winds that blow
almost constantly from easterly directions and are
located on the north and south sides of the
subtropical highs.
• Westerlies are the dominant west-to-east motion
of the atmosphere that characterizes the regions
on the poleward side of the subtropical highs.
19.2 Pressure Centers and Winds
Global Winds
Rotating Earth Model
• Polar easterlies are winds that blow from the
polar high toward the subpolar low. These winds
are not constant like the trade winds.
• A polar front is a stormy frontal zone separating
cold air masses of polar origin from warm air
masses of tropical origin.
Circulation on a Rotating Earth
19.2 Pressure Centers and Winds
Global Winds
Influence of Continents
• The only truly continuous pressure belt is the
subpolar low in the Southern Hemisphere. In the
Northern Hemisphere, where land masses break
up the ocean surface, large seasonal temperature
differences disrupt the pressure pattern.
• Monsoons are the seasonal reversal of wind
direction associated with large continents,
especially Asia. In winter, the wind blows from land
to sea. In summer, the wind blows from sea to
land.
Surface Pressure
19.3 Regional Wind Systems
Local Winds
The local winds are caused either by
topographic effects or by variations in
surface composition—land and water—in
the immediate area.
Land and Sea Breezes
• In coastal areas during the warm summer months, the
land surface is heated more intensely during the
daylight hours than an adjacent body of water is
heated. As a result, the air above the land surface
heats, expands, and rises, creating an area of lower
pressure. At night the reverse takes place.
Sea and Land Breezes
19.3 Regional Wind Systems
Local Winds
Valley and Mountain Breezes
• In mountainous regions during daylight hours,
the air along the slopes of the mountains is
heated more intensely than the air at the same
elevation over the valley floor. Because this
warmer air on the mountain slopes is less
dense, it glides up along the slope and
generates a valley breeze. After sunset the
pattern may reverse.
Valley and Mountain Breezes
19.3 Regional Wind Systems