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29 Cards in this Set

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adiabatic heating/cooling
Adiabatic heating- warming by compression in descending air.

Adiabatic cooling- cooling by expansion in rising air.
-Falling air
-High pressure
-Clockwise / Outward

-Rising Air
-Low Pressure
-Counterclockwise / Inward
chinook wind
Rocky Mountains (East)

The falling air off the mountains heats up and brings a rapid change in temperature to places like Denver and helps melt the snow.

Ex- Foehn, Santa Ana & Diablo winds.
Dynamic changes.

lower surface- low
high in atmosphere- high

follows the convergence
coriolis effect
The movement of objects to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern due to the rotation of the Earth.

Faster something moves, the better it works.
Area near the equator/ITCZ where the tradewinds come together at the equitorial low. Sailors can get stuck here.
frictional force
One of the things that affect the direction of wind.

Ridge- High
Trough- Low
geostrophic wind
A wind that moves parallel to the isobars as a result of the balance between the pressure gradient force and the Coriolis effect.
Hadley Cell
Circular movement of air vertically in two complete cells between the equator/ITCZ and the Subtropic Highs.

Most consistent winds and relies on constant equitorial solar energy.
horse latitudes
Right under the subtropical highs where boats can get stuck.

Problem because there is very little water.

Horses are the first to be thrown off the boats.
Intertropical Convergence Zone

Where the tradewinds come together at the equitorial low.
A line joining points of equal atmospheric pressure.
katabatic wind
Winds caused by gravity that flow most of the year. The air gets very cold and dense and flows down.

Ex- Antartica
land/sea breezes
Land gets hot and creates a low pressure zone. Water around it is colder and creates a high pressure zone, creating a pressure gradient so wind comes onshore.

Land breeze-
Land cools down and creates a high pressure zone while the warmer water creates low causing a pressure gradient that moves the wind offshore.
Seasonal reversal of wind.

Winter- Sun in S.H. and Asia is cold (thermal high pressure) and anticyclone forms. Ocean is still warm (low thermal pressure) and cool, dry air blows in.

Summer- Sun in N.H. and Asia is warm while the water is cold so it is warm and wet.
mountain/valley breezes
Occurs when the sun's vertical rays hit the mountains so it warms up and the air rises. The air from the valley then rushes in to replace is.

Stops once the sun goes down.

Valley Breeze-
Happens when the mountain is cooler than the valley.
offshore/onshore winds
Offshore winds-
Wind movement from land to water.

Onshore winds-
Wind movement from water to land.
polar easterlies
A global wind system that occupies most of the area between the Polar Highs and sixty degrees.

The winds move generally from east to west and are typically cold and dry.
polar front
One of the global circulations that is created when air from the North Pole comes in contact with air from the Subtropical High/Hadley Cell for each hemisphere. Creates Subpolar Low.
polar high
A high-pressure cell situated over either polar region. 60 Degrees.
pressure gradient
Change is surface pressure from place to place. Moves high to low.

Represented by isobars.
Rossby Wave
Caused by latitudinal shifts in the polar front jetstream that moves west to east across the Earth causing rapid changes in temperatures to places and makes the high latitudes very changeable and dynamic.
Santa Ana wind
A wind like the Chinook that occurs in Southern California mostly in Fall that causes fires.
subpolar low
A zone of low pressure in both hemispheres at around 50 to 60 degrees latitude where the cold polar easterlies meet the warmer westerlies.

Can change its shape due to Rossby Waves.
Where air falling down from higher elevations heates up. Occurs in the subtropics.
subtropical high
Around 30 degrees latitude that is caused dynamicly. Part of the Hadley Cells caused by descending air. (Horse Latitudes)
thermal/dynamic pressure cells
Thermal- Equitorial Low (excess heat energy) & Polar High

Dynamic- Subtropical High & Subpolar Low
The major easterly wind system of the tropics- Northeast & Southeast Tradewinds. Come together at the ITCZ.
The wind system of the midlatitudes that flows from west to east between 30 to 60 degrees latitude.