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