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In the study of Earth's atmosphere, polar easterlies are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow around the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles. [1] Cold air subsides at the poles creating high pressure zones, forcing an equatorward outflow of air; that outflow is then deflected westward by the Coriolis effect.
The polar easterlies (also known as Polar Hadley cells) are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles towards the low-pressure areas within the westerlies at high latitudes.
The trade winds or easterlies are permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere , strengthening during the winter and when the Arctic oscillation is in its warm phase.
The easterly Trade Winds and the polar easterlies have nothing over which to prevail, as their parent circulation cells are strong enough and face few obstacles either in the form of massive terrain features or high pressure zones. The weaker Westerlies of the Ferrel cell, however, can be disrupted.
Regions under the polar high also experience very low levels of precipitation, which leads them to be known as "polar deserts". Air flows outwards from the poles to create the polar easterlies in the Arctic and Antarctic areas.
The NADW water also diverges away from Antarctica when it is upwelled. This diverged water moves northward (equatorward), and at the same time persistent precipitation (location is near the polar lows ~60°S) along with an influx of melt water decreases the salinity of the original NADW. Because the salinity of the NADW has changed by so much ...
Additionally, there are areas of upwelling as a consequence of Ekman suction where the Polar Easterlies winds meet the Westerlies in the subpolar regions north of the subtropics, as well as where the Northeast Trade Winds meet the Southeast Trade Winds along the Equator. [1]
The polar jets, at lower altitude, and often intruding into mid-latitudes, strongly affect weather and aviation. [19] [20] The polar jet stream is most commonly found between latitudes 30° and 60° (closer to 60°), while the subtropical jet streams are located close to latitude 30°. These two jets merge at some locations and times, while at ...