Chapter 3 Flashcards
What was the greatest wind speed ever measured at Earth’s surface? Where? What year?
370 km/hr
Mount Washington
1934
True or False
Because air is a fluid, it can move easily from place to place.
True
What is the force that makes air move?
A difference in air pressure.
True or False
Fluids tend to move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.
True
A __________ is the horizontal movement of air from and area of ______ pressure to an area of _____ pressure
wind
high
lower
True or false
All winds are caused by differences in air pressure.
True
What are most differences in air pressure caused by?
Unequal heating of the atmosphere.
How are winds described?
By their direction and speed
What measurement tool determines wind direction?
a wind vane
A south wind blows from the _________ to the ________.
south
north
A _________ wind blows to the south.
north
What tool is used to measure wind speed?
an anemometer
Describe an anemometer.
Has 3 or 4 cups mounted at the ends of spokes that spin on an axle. The force of the wind against the cups turns the axle.
What is attached to the axle of the anemometer to show wind speed?
Speedometer.
What is the increased cooling that a wind can cause called?
Wind chill factor
Convection currents form when an area of earth’s surface is heated by what?
sun’s rays
Air over the heated surface of the earth expands and becomes less ________.
Dense
As air becomes less dense, what happens to air pressure?
it decreases
If a nearby area is not heated as much, the air above the less heated area will be cooler and ______.
denser
Cool, dense air has a ________ air pressure so it flows underneath the _______, less dense air.
higher
warm
How many meters above sea level is the highest point in the northeastern USA? And where is it?
1917 meters
Mount Washington in New Hampshire
______ winds are winds that blow over short distances.
Local
Local winds are caused by the unequal heating of Earth’s surface within a _______ area.
small
Unequal heating often occurs on land that is next to a _____ ____ ___ ______.
large body of water
True or false
It takes more energy to warm up a body of water than it does to warm up an equal area of land.
True
As the sun heats earth’s surface during the day, the _____ warms faster than the water
land
The air over the land becomes _______ than the air over the water.
warmer
The warm air ______ and _____ creating a low pressure area.
expands and rises
_____ air blows inland from the water and moves underneath the warm air.
Cool
A wind that blows from an ocean or lake onto land is known as what?
Sea breeze or Lake breeze
At night, land ____ more quickly than water so the air over the land becomes cooler than the air over the water.
cools
The flow of air from land to a body of water is called:
land breeze
In the summer in South and Southeast Asia, the land gradually gets _____ than the ocean.
warmer
Sea and land breezes over a large region that change direction with the seasons are called:
monsoons
As the humid air rises over the land, the air cools, producing _______ ________ that supply the water needed by rice and other crops.
heavy rains.
Winds that blow steadily from specific directions over long distances are called _____ _____.
global winds
Global winds are created by unequal heating of ______ surface.
earth’s
Warm air rises at the ______ and cold air sinks at the _____.
equator
sinks
Air pressure is ____ near the equator and ______ near the poles
lower
greater
Winds at the earth’s surface to blow from ______ toward the ______.
poles
equator
The movement of air between the equator and the poles produces _____ _______.
global winds
The way if earth’s rotation makes the winds curve is called
the coriolis effect
in the northern hemisphere, all global winds gradually turn toward the _____.
right
In the Northern Hemisphere, a wind blowing toward the north gradually turns toward the __________.
northeast
In the southern hemisphere, winds curve toward the _____. and, a south wind gradually changes to a _______ wind while a north wind becomes a ____ wind.
left
southeast
northwest
The major global wind belts are:
the trade winds
the prevailing westerlies
the polar easterlies
The Coriolis effect and other factors combine to produce a pattern of _______ areas and _____ belts around the earth.
calm
wind
What do the calm areas include?
the doldrums
the horse latitudes
About 10 km above earth’s surface are bands of high speed winds called _____ _____.
jet streams
Jet streams are _____ of km wide and a ____ km deep.
hundreds
few
Jet streams blow from _____ to _____ at speeds of ___ to ____ per hour.
west
east
200
400
As jet streams travel around earth, they wander north and _____ along a wavy path.
south
Pilots can save fuel and time by flying _____ in a jet stream
east
Airplanes flying at jet stream altitudes are slowed down when traveling _____ against the jet stream winds.
west
Cold air near the poles sinks and flows back toward lower ______.
latitudes
The Coriolis effect shifts these polar winds to the _____, producing winds call the _____ _____.
west
polar easterlies
The polar easterlies meet the prevailing westerlies at about ____ north and _____ south latitudes, along a region called the polar front.
60
60
In mid latitudes, winds that blow toward the poles are turned toward the east by the ______ ______. And because they blow from _____ to the east, they are called ______ _______.
Coriolis effect
west
prevailing westerlies
The prevailing westerlies blow from the southwest between _____ and ____ north latitudes and from the northwest between ______ and ____ south latitudes.
30
60
30
60
Near the equator, the sun heats the surface strongly. Warm air _____ steadily, creating an area of _____ pressure.
rises
low
Cool air moves into an area, warms rapidly, and rises before it moves very far. There is little _______ motion so the winds near the equator are (very strong/very weak). Regions near the equator with little or no wind are called _________.
horizontal
very weak
Doldrums
Air stops moving at about 30 degrees north and south latitude. Hundreds of years ago, sailors in these waters ran out of food and water for their horses and had to throw the horses overboard. Because of this, this area is called ______ _______.
horse latitudes
When cold air over the _____ ______ sinks, it produces a region of high pressure. This high pressure causes surface winds to blow toward the equator are turned _____ by the Coriolis effect.
As a result, winds in the Northern Hemisphere between 30 degrees north latitude and the equator blow generally from the ________northeast. In the Souther Hemisphere between 30 degrees south latitude and the equator, winds blow from the ________.
These steady easterly winds are called ______ ______. For hundreds of years, sailors relied on them to carry cargoes from Europe to West Indies and South America.
horse latitudes
west
southeast
trade winds
Wind comes from ________ heating in the ______.
unequal
atmosphere
A global winds affect a huge ____ _____.
land mass
Which winds would you rely on to travel back to Spain?
Westerlies
If you wanted to travel from Spain to the Caribbean on a sailboat, which winds would you rely on to get you there.
Trade Winds
True or False
The smaller the temperature differences, the stronger the wind will be.
False. Larger temperatures create stronger winds
True or False
Wind are named for the direction they are blowing toward.
False - Trade winds are not named for the direction they blow to
