Why does the wind blow and what temperature is called negative? Why do the winds blow? Why does wind arise? The meaning of wind in nature.

The Earth, like many other celestial bodies, is surrounded by an atmosphere - a shell of gases that is held around the planet by gravity, or the force of attraction.

The individual molecules of the gases that make up the atmosphere move in different directions at different speeds. The Earth's atmosphere weighs five quadrillion tons, and air pressure varies in different parts of it. It is because of the difference in atmospheric pressure that such a natural phenomenon as wind arises.

The balance between received and emitted energy is positive. Under these conditions, tropical regions must constantly warm and polar regions must cool indefinitely. In equatorial regions, air heated by the earth rises. In subtropical regions, although the sun provides a lot of energy, the heat balance is negative because the lands located at these latitudes reflect a significant portion of the energy received. Thus, these areas represent sinking zones of air that was carried in the high atmosphere to the equator and which lost its moisture in the form of rain.

Air temperature and atmospheric pressure

Individual areas of air in the atmosphere have different temperatures. In warm currents, molecules move at high speed and fly apart faster in different directions. It is for this reason that it is more rarefied, its weight decreases, and the atmospheric pressure it creates decreases.

In areas of the atmosphere with colder air, the opposite phenomenon occurs: molecules form clusters with high density, the weight of such areas increases, and accordingly, atmospheric pressure also increases.

The air that descends in this zone is therefore hot and dry, which explains the deserts at these latitudes. This creates an anticyclone zone. Due to the Earth's rotation, the air is subject to what is called a geostrophic force, which causes air to blow in the northern hemisphere, leaving low pressures to the left. From the north to the equator there will therefore be light winds from the East, followed by strong winds from the West, around the Iceland depression zone, this is for the North Atlantic. South of this depression the wind will blow from the east around the northern surface of the Acurs anticyclone and we will find the circulation of the component eastwards to Ecuador.

Air always moves from an area of ​​high pressure to an area of ​​low pressure. To understand this mechanism, it is enough to imagine how the dam works: if you open the gateways between sections with a height of 7 and 5 meters, then the water will flow to where its level was initially lower, that is, to the section with a lower height. And this movement will continue until the level in both areas is equal.



The movement of atmospheric masses occurs in a similar way, which, in turn, creates such a phenomenon as wind.

It is worth noting that when ascending to altitude in a zone where the temperature decreases with height, the so-called troposphere, the polar anticyclone, from the cold of these areas, is replaced by depression. Wind is the result of convective movements and vectors of air masses in the atmosphere. This movement of the mass-d "air from" an area of ​​the Earth's surface with high pressure to an area of ​​low pressure in the presence of two points with different atmospheric pressure creates a force called a pressure gradient force or a gradient of force that acts by pressing on the mass-d "air for felt" to restore the balance. d "the air flow does not work in a direct path from one point to" another, that is, with the same direction of the gradient force, but suffers the force due to the Coriolis deflection, which tends to move it to the right in the "northern hemisphere and to the left in" the southern hemisphere . Because of this effect, the wind blows parallel to the isobar. in this case we are talking about geostrophic wind.

Breezes, monsoons, trade winds

Imagine a clear, sunny day near the sea coast. The sun affects both the water and the shore, but rapid heating of the water is hampered by its mobility: the upper layers, warmer, constantly mix with the cooler lower layers. This prevents the water from heating up as quickly as the shore warms up.

In the absence of instrumentation, wind speed can be estimated by observing the effects it produces on trees, chimneys, and free water. Winds are classified into constant, periodic, local and cyclonic. The prevailing winds are those that blow all year in the same direction and in the same sense. These include trade winds, extratropical winds and westerly winds. Trade winds form in the tropical zones of the anticyclone and converge towards the equatorial one. The winds blow extratropically in the equatorial bands, where, when heated, they form rising masses of warm, moist air. westerly winds blowing between 35° and 60°, and from southwest to northeast in the northern hemisphere and from north west to south east to south.

The air above the coast turns out to be warmer than above the sea. And this warm air expands quite quickly, the distance between the molecules inside this area increases, and the pressure decreases. As a result, air with higher pressure (that is, air from the sea) moves to where the pressure is lower, that is, towards land, and brings coolness to the coast.

Periodic winds are said to change their value periodically. The season may be seasonal, as in the monsoon or ethereal, or even as diurnal, as in the case of rocks. Monsoons are characteristic of the seas of the Indian Ocean and China. Between breezes there are three types: sea and shore breeze, lake and shore, mountain and valley breezes.

On entry and exit, the breezes blow instead from valley to mountain during the day and from mountain to valley during the night. Local winds, characteristic of temperate zones where they blow irregularly when you create cyclonic and anticyclonic areas, are many and often associated with local nomenclature, depending on the area in which they are received. In the "affected zone from the Mediterranean Sea is used to classify winds depending on the direction from which the pattern of the main is dictated by the wind rose, a restoration" of the old nomenclature as a result of "ancient Greece, which is supposed" observer in the center of the Ionian Sea, northwest of the Aegean Islands , towards Sicily.

At night, everything happens the other way around: the water cools down more slowly than the land, and the wind begins to blow from the land to the sea, the air above which is warmer than above the shore. This wind is called a breeze - day and night. By the way, the direction of the wind in the mountains also changes with the time of day: during the day the wind blows from the valley towards the mountains, and at night - from the mountains to the valley.

And that is why the south wind, the northeast wind and the southwest are so named because, at that moment, Syria is in the southeast, Greece is in the northeast and southwest of Libya. To graphically represent the origin of the winds, we are accustomed to the so-called “Wind Rose”. It looks like a four-digit star, each pointing to the cardinal point from which a particular wind comes.

Another "important" classification of wave-based winds associated with the local conditions of each site you want to report is as follows. "prevailing winds": they have a "high frequency of occurrence" dominant winds: they are characterized by high speeds.

The breeze changes direction twice a day. There are winds that change direction twice a year - in summer and winter; these winds are called monsoons. The principle of changing direction is similar to the principle according to which a breeze is formed: over land heated in summer, air pressure is low, and cool air moves from the ocean.



In winter, the monsoon blows from the quickly cooling coast towards the water that still retains heat. The change of monsoons also entails a change in weather: instead of dry and partly cloudy, it becomes rainy. Monsoons are typical for the eastern part of the mainland - where the coast comes into contact with a wide strip of ocean.

It is known that winds that can simultaneously present two high-frequency and high-speed characteristics predominate. North = Tramontana is a generally dry, fairly strong cold wind blowing from north to south, and is generally a good carrier. Overtaking the Alps and passing northern Italy emerge in the Apennine Mountains and dry up over Central Italy.

He can reach extreme violence and persist for more days. In the Gulf of Lion it is called Gregal and in the Balearic Islands Gurgal to all the strong and cold winds coming from the northeast. These winds are caused by meteorological conditions different from those that make our Grekale. East = Levant is the wind coming from the Balkans.

In addition to variables, the Earth also has constant winds - trade winds and westerly winds. Throughout the year, winds blow near the Earth's surface, directed from latitudes in the 30s with high pressure towards the equator, where the pressure is lower. But, since the planet rotates around its axis, these winds seem to twist in a spiral: in the Northern Hemisphere - to the southwest from the northeast, in the Southern - from the southeast to the northwest.

South East = Sirocco influences the weather in the southern Mediterranean. The wind is southeast and is initially a warm and dry wind when it comes from the desert. But the passage over the sea is wet and comes to the coast of Italy like a damp wind and a rain bush. It can hit the Ionian Sea and the low and middle Adriatic Sea hard when the center of the depression moves to Sicily, in fact the configuration of the Adriatic Sea basin, whose greatest length is in the direction of the wind, also contributes to the canalization of those air currents that do not have precisely this direction.

Western winds are formed due to the movement of air masses from 30 latitudes to the poles. It is the trade winds that bring dry air to the Sahara, and the westerly winds that bring wet and rainy weather from the Atlantic to Europe.

Wind speed, strength and direction

Scientists characterize winds by their speed and strength. Speed ​​is measured in points or meters per second (one point is about two meters per second). The strength of the wind depends on the difference in atmospheric pressure between different areas: the greater the difference, the more powerful the wind.

Its action at high tide is associated with the phenomenon of high water in Venice. Sirocco can be established in all seasons, but its maximum frequency is observed in spring and autumn. The Sikrok cyclone is characterized by strong winds, cloudy skies, fog and intermittent rain.

It is established when a deep depression emanating from the Mediterranean, West or North Africa approaches the western Italian seas. When the same wind of winds along the Libyan coast is called Ghibli. South = Austro wind is warm and humid, which winds from the south.

To assess wind strength, the Beaufort scale was developed back in the 19th century, and since 1874 it has been adopted for use in International Synoptic Practice. Over the decades, changes and additions have been made to the scale, and today winds are assessed using a 12-point system.

For example, the absence of wind, or calm, corresponds to 0 points. Weak wind is rated at 3 points, fresh - at 5, strong - at 6 points. A wind with a force of 9 is already a storm, and at 12 it is a hurricane. The Beaufort scale is actively used today, primarily in maritime navigation.

Southwest = Libeccio comes from the southwest and is very common in the western basin, where it feels its effects as far as the Gulf of Genoa. Being closely associated with depressions that form in the western Mediterranean, it can suddenly develop with extreme violence and high turbulence. All the phenomena that accompany these paroxysms, the consequences of which are sometimes very serious and are mainly felt on the Tyrrhenian coast, are the name of Libecciata. In Adriatic Libeccio there is sporadic wind, and summer can last only a few hours.

Any wind is also characterized in terms of its direction. The direction is determined depending on the side of the horizon from which the wind blows: if from the north, then the wind is north, if from the south, then it is south. The direction of the wind depends not only on the difference in atmospheric pressure, but also on the rotation of the Earth around its axis.



Wind is large air currents, along with which huge masses of molecules of atmospheric gases move. These flows can cover thousands of kilometers and fly around the entire earth, or they can have local, “local” scales, like the winds described above at the sea and at the foot of the mountains.

And the wind that follows the rapid disturbances originating from the Atlantic of our latitudes. North-West = Maestral is called Mistral in the Gulf of Lion and adjacent, it comes from the north-west and through the Rhone valley rushes into the Gulf of Lyon, acquiring speed and dryness. Along with Bora, this is the wind that takes on maximum speed. It can be installed in all seasons, although it is more common in spring and winter. It forms when there is a depression in or southeast of the Gulf of Lions, and at the same time there is high pressure from the Gulf of Genoa to the Alps.

The air only seems weightless to us; To understand that the atmosphere really has a density, it is enough to put your hand outside the window of a moving car - you will immediately feel how the air flows around your hand.

Wind is air in motion relative to the earth's surface; and it moves due to fluctuations in atmospheric pressure. Otherwise there would be no wind. Pressure differences exist over regions where the sun heats the earth's surface unevenly.

It can last from several hours to three to four days, providing good weather and cloudy weather. The same wind on the northern shores of Sardinia, Sicily and Tyrannical is our Maestral, which, although it has the same characteristics as the "Mistral", is not so strong as the north-western states on the Adriatic Sea are of short duration and have more violence and persistence in the Otranto Channel, where they produce a strong shock in the sea.

Its characteristic is to be a "choppy" wind, or to appear in strong gusts alternating with an apparent calm wind. Relatively thick, dry continental Arctic air descends onto the Adriatic: in particular flowing through the “Gate of Postumia” or “Bora Gate”, as in general - the depression of the Alpine chain in the Julian Alps, between the Karst plateau of Mount Re and the group of Mount Nevoso - invests in the sector Triestina, weakening beyond a narrow slope bounded northwest by Monfalcone and southeast by northern white Istria.

Above a warm surface, the air also heats up and increases in volume, and its pressure increases accordingly compared to cooler areas.

Air can be thought of as layers between surfaces at constant pressure (right), with the densest layer at the bottom. When the air is unchanged, its layers are smooth and flat, as in stage 1. But if one of the areas (stage 2, yellow color) absorbs a certain amount of heat, then the air expands, its pressure increases, and the layers of air pressure also expand and become curved .

Although it is greatly weakened, it is felt directly in Venice, in Chiogia and beyond. During the winter semester, this type of wind can reach 150 km/h and can last for several days. Also in Trieste, due to frequent snowy days, local time changes sharply and characteristically.

An old saying of old people from Venice Giulia, especially the river and Trieste, says that "Bora was born in Segna, she married in Rijeka and died in Trieste." Fena is a relatively warm and very dry wind that, through the Alpine valley, descends gustyly to the valley of the Po River, and from here, crossing the modest buttresses of the Northern Apennines, even goes to the coast of high Tuscany. In such situations, the accumulation of upper air masses in the Alps increases atmospheric pressure, and a deep depression occurs on the leeward side.

Air then begins to move from an area of ​​high pressure to an area of ​​low pressure, creating wind high above the ground (Stage 3). The greater the amplitude of temperature fluctuations - and, accordingly, pressure - between two areas, the stronger the wind blowing between them.


When he blows the hair dryer the temperature undergoes a rapid and significant increase, while the air becomes clear; clouds are absent, except lenticular, almost always isolated and with jagged edges. The regions most affected by the foehn are the "high Lombardy and Piedmont", where the average is recorded ten days" per year. The occurrence of this phenomenon produces, during the winter and spring seasons, avalanches, due to a sharp increase in temperature. The prerequisite for the genesis of the foehn and twenty other similar so-called descendants is the presence of mountain ranges quite high.

Uneven heating. The sun heats point B, causing the air temperature above it to rise (right). The air increases in volume and rises, and its pressure increases.

Convection causes winds

Air pressure increases with increasing temperature. Therefore, if a mass of warm air borders on a mass of colder air, then the pressure in these two masses will be different. This difference causes convection currents (stages 1-4), which generate wind between the two zones.

Equilibrium. The temperature at points A and B (on the left) is the same, as is the pressure above them. Therefore, there is no wind between these points.

Creative power. The difference in air pressure over points A and B creates a gradient force that moves air from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. It also carries part of the air above point B to point A, causing the upper atmospheric wind (red arrow) in the same direction.

Surface winds. The air at point A causes the pressure to rise, while at point B it falls. This generates a surface wind that flows in the opposite direction to the upper atmospheric wind. The downward flow in A and the upward flow in B complete the cycle.


When making weather maps, scientists rely on imaginary atmospheric surfaces called constant-pressure surfaces (curved planes, above). At every point on this surface the pressure is constant. When an imaginary plane parallel to the Earth (red outline) intersects a surface of constant pressure, meteorologists draw a line - an isobar - separating areas of different air pressure. The air mass between the isobars (dark blue segment) is directed by the gradient force (green arrow) into an area of ​​​​lower pressure.

Circular isobars

In areas with different pressures, the direction of the wind is also determined by centrifugal force. In the upper atmosphere, the pressure gradient force, rotational force, and centrifugal force are in equilibrium if winds blow clockwise around the high pressure area (far left, top) and counterclockwise around the low pressure area (left, top). Above the surface, friction turns the wind outward-upward (far left, below) and inward-downward (far left, below).