At high altitudes, air is “free” and balances perfectly between pressure and the Coriolis force, blowing parallel to isobars. Near the ground, however, friction from trees and buildings slows the wind down. Since the Coriolis force depends on speed, it ...
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Frontal rainfall occurs when a warm air mass meets a cold air mass, a process central to “Extratropical” cyclonic activity. In this interaction, the lighter warm air is forced to rise over the denser cold air. As the warm air ...
The “eye” is the trademark characteristic of a mature tropical cyclone (also called a hurricane or typhoon). While temperate cyclones have low-pressure centers, they rarely develop the clear, calm and well-defined circular eye that tropical cyclones do. This feature is ...
The Doldrums is a “no-wind” belt located near the equator. In this region, the air is mostly moving upward due to heat rather than sideways along the ground. Because there is very little horizontal wind, sailing ships in the past ...
Trade winds are caused by the convection of heat on a global scale. At the equator, the intense sun heats the air, causing it to rise. As this air moves up, cooler air from the subtropics flows in along the ...