What Causes Global Wind Patterns

In areas which have variable terrain mountain and valley breezes dominate the wind pattern. The continual heating and rise of air at the equator create low pressure there which causes air to move wind towards the equator to take the place of the air that rises.

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Global winds are created by both the spin of the earth coriolis effect and the differences in temperature between the equator and the polar areas.

What causes global wind patterns. Unequal heating of the earth s surface also forms large global wind patterns. This uneven heating produces global circulation patterns. Wind is caused by differences in the atmospheric pressure.

Warm air rises at the equator and moves toward the poles. The earth has consistent wind patterns when looked at from a global scale. These winds are often grouped together as trade winds easterlies and westerlies.

Highly elevated surfaces can induce a thermal low which then augments the environmental wind flow. Trade winds trade winds occur near the equator and flow from either the north or south towards the equator. In areas where winds tend to be light the sea breeze land breeze cycle is the most important cause of the prevailing wind.

On a rotating planet air will also be deflected by the coriolis effect except exactly on the equator. The global wind belts are enormous and the winds are relatively steady. At the poles the cooler air sinks and moves back toward the equator.

However it is not this simple. These winds are the result of air movement at the bottom of the major atmospheric circulation cells where the air moves horizontally from high to low pressure. Offsite link for example the abundance of energy reaching the equator produces hot humid air that rises high into the atmosphere.

Solar heating of the atmosphere differential heating of water and land masses rotation of the earth and the coriolis effect it causes global wind patterns. In area near the equator the sun is almost directly overhead for most of the year. On the other hand sinking air creates high pressure at the surface where it descends.

Technology today allows anyone to see global wind patterns in real time such as earth wind map. When a difference in atmospheric pressure exists air moves from the higher to the lower pressure area resulting in winds of various speeds. Global winds earth s orbit around the sun and its rotation on a tilted axis causes some parts of earth to receive more solar radiation than others.

Prevailing Winds