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Understanding Global Winds: Air Movement Explained

Learn about the causes of wind, pressure belts, global winds, and local winds in this informative guide to air movement. Explore how the Earth's heating patterns create wind variations and impact climates.

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Understanding Global Winds: Air Movement Explained

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  1. Global Winds 6th Grade Science

  2. Air Movement • Wind is the horizontal movement of air caused by differences in air pressure. • The air moves from High Air Pressure to Low Air Pressure. • The greater the difference, the faster the wind moves

  3. Cause for the differences in Air Pressure • Caused by the uneven heating of Earth • Uneven heating produces pressure belts which occur every 30° latitude

  4. Pressure Belts • As warm air rises at the equator and moves toward the poles, it cools • As it cools, some of the air sinks around 30° north and south of the equator

  5. Pressure Belts • At the poles, cold air sinks and moves towards the equator • Around 60° north and south, the air begins to heat up and rise

  6. Global Winds • The combination of pressure belts and the Coriolis Effect cause global winds • What are the Global Winds? • These are polar easterlies, westerlies, and trade winds

  7. Polar Easterlies • Wind belts that extend from the poles to 60° latitude • Formed from cold sinking air moving from the poles creating cold temperatures

  8. Prevailing Westerlies • Wind belts found between 30° and 60° latitude • Flow towards the poles from west to east carrying moist air over the United States

  9. Trade Winds • Winds that blow from 30° almost to the equator • These are steady, high pressure winds called the trade winds because of their early use by sailors.

  10. Other Global Wind BeltsDoldrums • Located along the equator where no winds blow because the warm rising air creates an area of low pressure

  11. Horse Latitudes • Occur at about 30° north and south of the equator where the winds are very weak • Most deserts on the Earth are located here because of the dry air

  12. Jet Stream • The jet streams are bands of high-speed winds about 10 kilometers above Earth’s surface. • Separates warm air from cold air

  13. Review of Local Winds Land Breeze and Sea Breeze

  14. Question 1 • What causes winds?

  15. Answer • Winds are caused by the uneven heating of Earth’s surface, which causes pressure differences

  16. Question 2 • What are the three main types of global winds?

  17. Answer • Polar Easterlies • Westerlies • Trade Winds

  18. Question 3 • What is the difference between a land breeze and a sea breeze?

  19. Answer • Sea breezes occur during the day when the land is warmer than water and a land breeze occurs at night when the water is warmer than land

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