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Jet streams (shown in pink) are well-known examples of thermal wind. They arise from the horizontal temperature gradients between the warm tropics and the colder polar regions. In atmospheric science, the thermal wind is the vector difference between the geostrophic wind at upper altitudes minus that at lower altitudes in the atmosphere.
The change of state from vapor to liquid water releases latent heat energy which heats the air, partially countering the cooling that occurs as the air rises. The subsequent removal of moisture as precipitation renders this heat gain by the air irreversible, leading to the warm, dry, Foehn conditions as the air descends in the mountain's lee.
It is also referred as the geostrophic wind. [2] Pressure differences depend, in turn, on the average temperature in the air column. As the sun does not heat the Earth evenly, there is a temperature difference between the poles and the equator, creating air masses with more or less homogeneous temperature with latitude.
Wind speeds as low as 23 knots (43 km/h) can lead to power outages due to tree branches disrupting the flow of energy through power lines. [142] While no species of tree is guaranteed to stand up to hurricane-force winds, those with shallow roots are more prone to uproot, and brittle trees such as eucalyptus , sea hibiscus , and avocado are ...
Such a cell converts heat energy to potential energy and then to kinetic energy. [2] Contrast indirect circulation. discontinuity A horizontal zone across which temperature, humidity, wind speed, or any other meteorological variable changes abruptly, such as a front. [1] disdrometer
The sea is warmed by the sun to a greater depth than the land due to its greater specific heat. [17] The sea therefore has a greater capacity for absorbing heat than the land, so the surface of the sea warms up more slowly than the land's surface. As the temperature of the surface of the land rises, the land heats the air above it. The warm air ...
Atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat-to-work transformations (and their reverse) that take place in the Earth's atmosphere and manifest as weather or climate. . Atmospheric thermodynamics use the laws of classical thermodynamics, to describe and explain such phenomena as the properties of moist air, the formation of clouds, atmospheric convection, boundary layer meteorology, and ...
Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. [1] [2] The adjective thermohaline derives from thermo-referring to temperature and -haline referring to salt content, factors which together determine the density of sea water.