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The trade winds (also called trades) are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics near the Earth's equator, [4] equatorward of the subtropical ridge. These winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere . [ 5 ]
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During the Age of Sail, the pattern of prevailing winds made various points of the globe easy or difficult to access, and therefore had a direct effect on European empire-building and thus on modern political geography. For example, Manila galleons could not sail into the wind at all. [4] Edmond Halley's map of the trade winds, 1686
The westerlies, anti-trades, [2] or prevailing westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes (about 30 degrees) and trend towards the poles and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner. [ 3 ]
The atmospheric circulation pattern that George Hadley described was an attempt to explain the trade winds. The Hadley cell is a closed circulation loop which begins at the equator. There, moist air is warmed by the Earth's surface, decreases in density and rises.
Flying insects, a subset of arthropods, are swept along by the prevailing winds, [133] while birds follow their own course taking advantage of wind conditions, in order to either fly or glide. [134] As such, fine line patterns within weather radar imagery, associated with converging winds, are dominated by insect returns. [ 135 ]
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Buran (a wind which blows across eastern Asia. It is also known as Purga when over the tundra); Karakaze (strong cold mountain wind from Gunma Prefecture in Japan); East Asian Monsoon, known in China and Taiwan as meiyu (梅雨), in Korea as jangma (), and in Japan as tsuyu (梅雨) when advancing northwards in the spring and shurin (秋霖) when retreating southwards in autumn.