4 Major Types of Wind Essays - Wind, Vortices, Atmospheric Dynamics

4 Major Types of Wind Essays - Wind, Vortices, Atmospheric Dynamics 4 Major Types of Wind subject = Science title = 4 Major Types of Wind Wind, Its So Much More I did my report on wind. As you may or may not know wind moves horizontally, and the wind that doesnt move horizontally moves vertically. That kind of wind is called a current. Many things may cause these rushes of moving air, one thing would be atmospheric pressure differences. The differences in the distribution of pressure and temperature is caused by the unequal distribution of heat. There are also the differences in the thermal properties of land and the ocean surfaces. When the temperatures of different regions become unequal, the warmer air will normally rise and move over the cold air because the cold air is heavier. That will sometimes cause things like tornadoes. Another way that winds move are by the usually great rotation of the earth. Isnt that enough as it is? Really though..how fast are we rotating and flying through space? Winds are classified into four major types believe it or not. The four major groups are, the local winds, the seasonal winds, the cyclonic and anti cyclonic winds, and th e prevailing winds. Thats kind of impressive if you ask me! Most people think of wind as a slight breeze on a summers day when it could be so much more. There are actually many, many more kinds of wind. You must remember that those are just the four main kinds. Now back to our "summers breeze," the strongest wind ever reliably measured on the surface of the earth was 362 km per hour or 225 miles per hour, recorded on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934. Considerably stronger winds, however, occur near the centers of tornadoes. I also thought that that was pretty neat. I got that fact out the Encarta 95 encyclopedia, a very reliable source. Thats where I got a lot of the information in this report. Now we get the chance to talk about the local winds. These winds are determined by the seasonal changes in temperature and pressure over the land as well as water. During the day changes occur, which will exercise a similar but more of a local effect on places. These changes that will only occur during the day are diurnal. These diurnal occurrences happen mostly in the summer, because the land is warmer than the surrounding water during the day and is colder than the water by night. Isnt it strange? Owell. The variations of pressure therefore lead or move a called forth system of breezes directed toward the land during the daytime and back towards the sea at night. These land and sea breezes penetrate to a distance of about 50 km or about 30 miles on and off the shore. Similar daily changes in temperature occur over an irregular terrain and cause mountain and valley breezes. Other winds are brought forth by local phenomena including whirlwinds and winds associated or caused by thunde rstorms. The second kind that were going to talk about is the seasonal winds. The air over the land is warmer in summer and colder in winter than the air over or next to the ocean during the same seasons. During the summer time, the continents consequently becomes the target of low pressure, with winds blowing in from the colder oceans. In the winter, all of the continents are the targets of high pressure, with winds directed toward the warmer oceans. These seasonal winds are typified by the monsoons of the China Sea and the Indian Ocean. This parts about cyclonic and anticyclonic winds. Cyclonic and anticyclonic winds are like hurricanes, tornadoes, and cyclones. Within each of those things, hurricanes, tornadoes, and cyclones, the wind is spinning or winding in a specific direction. Most tornadoes spin counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern, but occasional tornadoes reverse this behavior. Its unknown why this happens but maybe one day someone will be able to explain why. The speeds of some tornadoes have often placed themselves at more than 480 km per hour or more than 300 miles per hour, although speeds of more than 800 km per hour or 500 miles per hour have been estimated for extremely