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This period was called the "dead horse" time, and it usually lasted a month or two. The seaman's ceremony was to celebrate having worked off the "dead horse" debt. As west-bound shipping from Europe usually reached the subtropics at about the time the "dead horse" was worked off, the latitude became associated with the ceremony. [2]
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 sargassum masses generally are not a threat to shipping, and historic incidents of sailing ships being trapped there are due to the often-calm winds of the horse latitudes. [20] The Sargasso Sea plays a role in the migration of catadromous eel species such as the European eel, the American eel, and the American conger eel.
Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from 23°26′09.7″ (or 23.43602°) to approximately 35° to 40° north and south. [1] The horse latitudes lie within this range. Subtropical climates are often characterized by hot summers and mild winters with infrequent frost.
The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Horse latitudes. It forms one pole of the North Atlantic oscillation, the other being the Icelandic Low.
The horse latitudes, or torrid zone, [20] is roughly at the 30th parallel and is the source of warm high pressure systems. As the hot air closer to the equator rises, it cools, losing moisture; it is then transported poleward where it descends, creating the high-pressure area. [ 21 ]
The ITCZ is visible as a band of clouds encircling Earth near the Equator. The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ / ɪ tʃ / ITCH, or ICZ), [1] known by sailors as the doldrums [2] or the calms because of its monotonous windless weather, is the area where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge.
This is the definition assumed when the word latitude is used without qualification. The definition must be accompanied with a specification of the ellipsoid. Geocentric latitude (also known as spherical latitude, after the 3D polar angle): the angle between the radius (from centre to the point on the surface) and the equatorial plane. (Figure ...