Winds are horizontal, sometimes gusty, air movements. They depend on pressure, move to where it is lower. Observing this phenomenon, specialists can compose a wind rose for a short and long time ahead, identify cycles and repetitions. According to them, both navigators and land dwellers subsequently orient themselves.
Westerly winds play an important role. They primarily move tropical air to temperate latitudes. Due to this, the temperature in these territories is normalizing, becoming acceptable for agriculture and favorable for human life.
Atmosphere circulation, or where the winds come from
The circulation of the atmosphere is due to the fact that certain parts of the earth's surface are heated unevenly. This process begins at the equator. In the zone are deserts and semi-deserts. Since there is almost no temperature difference, there are virtually no winds. In the tropics they blow parallel to the equator, then, closer to temperate latitudes, gradually change their direction.
Deviation from the equator naturally varies. In the Northern Hemisphere, trade winds are formed that blow to the right. In the South - to the left. The directions of the westerly winds closer to temperate latitudes diverge in different directions, as well as the northeast.
This pattern may be disturbed due to uneven heating of the water and earth surfaces. When the sea and coast come into contact, winds appear, blowing outside the laws of atmospheric circulation. These are large flows that change their direction depending on the season. They are called monsoons and carry moisture to the mainland.
Temperate latitudes
Westerly winds are almost the only air currents in temperate latitudes. This is a unique scheme that boasts its ideality. The fact is that warm and cold air masses are found in temperate latitudes. The former appear in the tropics, the latter in the territories of the polar regions. Because of their contact, cyclones and anticyclones appear. They carry air east from the west.
In temperate latitudes is a belt with low atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the air masses come here, and they are quite strong. Such winds have their own peculiarity (like the trade winds). They have an average deviation angle. This is due to the rotation of the planet (Coriolis effect).
The phenomenon is also called western transference. The fact is that half of the air masses are formed in the north, the other part - in the east. But they all blow in one western direction. The trade winds can be called their counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere, but there is a difference between them. It lies in the fact that parts of the planet are not heated equally by the sun, therefore the direction of the winds is different.
The prevailing winds
They appear because there is a difference in atmospheric pressure, and also because of the difference in temperature. There are territories on the planet where both parameters are constant and the same. Therefore, prevailing winds appeared. They are also called predominant (or predominant). They are found on almost the entire planet.
Prevailing northerly or westerly winds move in a specific direction. They create a circulation, or rotation of the atmosphere.
They bring sea air from the Atlantic to Eastern Europe and Asia, sometimes rainfall. In the Southern Hemisphere, a west wind forms above the surface of the water in the ocean, then rushes to land at high speed.
Monsoon
Speaking about which wind is westerly, one cannot lose sight of the monsoon. They form in the Northern Hemisphere on the eastern coasts. The westerly winds from temperate latitudes gradually begin to weaken after they are removed deep into the ocean. But to replace them come monsoon circulation. They are air currents that change their direction sharply when winter changes in summer, and vice versa. In this they radically differ from the prevailing winds, which do not have a change in the motion vector.
Monsoons are formed due to the difference in heating of land and seas. A winter northwest wind blows from the cold shores of Asia and Canada. Its direction is a warm ocean that never freezes. There is a summer, southeast wind. It originates in the ocean and moves to heated land. In fact, in winter, the westerly wind that appeared in the tropics, then moved to temperate latitudes, becomes a monsoon. Part of the equatorial air is carried away through natural flows almost to the poles.
The role of westerly winds
The role of the wind rose cannot be overestimated. And each of the dominant streams is distinguished by its contribution to the life of man and nature:
- Westerly winds, like the trade winds, help ships with sails (and there are a lot of them) cross the oceans or move where necessary.
- Air flows increase near the coast, therefore, contribute to the formation of warm currents. Because of this, water is exchanged in all oceans. If this does not happen, then stagnation forms. In fact, all aquatic flora and fauna will perish, and humanity will follow it.
In conclusion, it should be noted that any west wind is directly involved in the global circulation of the atmosphere.
