What causes trade winds to reverse?

What causes trade winds to reverse?

When it occurs within a trade wind regime, it is known as a trade wind inversion. The surface air that flows from these subtropical high-pressure belts toward the Equator is deflected toward the west in both hemispheres by the Coriolis effect.

What causes trade winds?

The Coriolis Effect, in combination with an area of high pressure, causes the prevailing winds—the trade winds—to move from east to west on both sides of the equator across this 60-degree “belt.” The sinking air triggers the calm trade winds and little precipitation, completing the cycle.

How do trade winds affect climate?

Trade winds have a big influence on the climate to the north and to the south of the equator. The main effects are: Continuous removal of humidity from the areas around the tropics = desertification. Continuous supply of humidity to the equator region = rain forest.

What happens when trade winds stop?

The weakened trade winds allow warmer water from the western Pacific to surge eastward, so the sea level flattens out. This leads to a build up of warm surface water and a sinking of the thermocline in the eastern Pacific. The air-sea interaction that occur during an El Niño event feed off of each other.

Where do the trade winds occur?

The trade winds can be found about 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Right at the equator there is almost no wind at all—an area sometimes called the doldrums.

Why do trade winds weaken or cease?

The air-sea interaction that occur during an El Niño event feed off of each other. As the pressure falls in the east and rises in the west, the surface pressure gradient is reduced and the trade winds weaken.

What happens to trade winds during La Nina?

During La Niña conditions, the easterly trade winds near the equator get even stronger than they usually are. Stronger winds push surface water into the western Pacific. As the event develops, the cooled waters cause the winds to strengthen even further, which can cause the waters to cool even more.

What happens to the trade winds during a La Niña?

Why do winds blow towards a low pressure system?

Winds blow towards the low pressure, and the air rises in the atmosphere where they meet. As the air rises, the water vapor within it condenses, forming clouds and often precipitation. Because of Earth’s spin and the Coriolis Effect, winds of a low pressure system swirl counterclockwise north of the equator and clockwise south of the equator.

What causes the trade winds in the tropics?

Intense solar heat in the doldrums warms and moistens the trade winds, thrusting air upwards into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon. As the air rises, it cools, causing persistent bands of showers and storms in the tropics and rainforests.

How are the winds of a high pressure system related to the equator?

Swirling in the opposite direction from a low pressure system, the winds of a high pressure system rotate clockwise north of the equator and counterclockwise south of the equator. This is called anticyclonic flow. Air from higher in the atmosphere sinks down to fill the space left as air is blown outward.

What happens when the air pressure is high or low?

Places where the air pressure is high, are called high pressure systems. A low pressure system has lower pressure at its center than the areas around it. Winds blow towards the low pressure, and the air rises in the atmosphere where they meet. As the air rises, the water vapor within it condenses, forming clouds and often precipitation.