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Sketch of the generation of katabatic winds in Antarctica. A katabatic wind originates from radiational cooling of air atop a plateau, a mountain, glacier, or even a hill. Since the density of air is inversely proportional to temperature, the air will flow downwards, warming approximately adiabatically as it descends. The temperature of the air ...
At night, the process is reversed. During the night the slopes get cooled and the dense air descends into the valley as the mountain wind. [4] These breezes occur mostly during calm and clear weather. Mountain and valley breezes are other examples of local winds caused by an area's geography.
An anabatic wind, from the Greek anabatos, verbal of anabainein meaning "moving upward", is a warm wind which blows up a steep slope or mountain side, driven by heating of the slope through insolation. [1] [2] It is also known as upslope flow. These winds typically occur during the daytime in calm sunny weather.
katabatic wind. Also catabatic wind, drainage wind, or fall wind. A local wind that carries cold, high-density air from a higher elevation downslope under the force of gravity as a result of the radiative cooling of the upland ground surface at night, usually at speeds on the order of 10 kn (19 km/h) or less but occasionally at much higher speeds.
The Santa Anas are katabatic winds (Greek for "flowing downhill") arising in higher altitudes and blowing down towards sea level. [7] The National Weather Service defines Santa Ana winds as "a weather condition [in southern California] in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions".
Surface temperature inversion is typical of polar environments and leads to the katabatic wind phenomenon. The vertical temperature structure of polar environments tends to be more complex than in mid-latitude or tropical climates.
A piteraq is a cold katabatic wind which originates on the Greenlandic icecap and sweeps down the east coast. The word "piteraq" means "that which attacks you" in the local language. [1] Piteraqs are most common in the autumn and winter. Wind speeds typically reach 50 to 80 m/s (180–288 km/h; 111–178 mph).
Berg wind blowing desert sand off the Namibian coast. These strong, hot winds are lofting plumes of dust directly out into the Atlantic Ocean in this panoramic image. The southern African equivalent of Santa Ana winds in California, berg winds blow on a few occasions in fall and winter, off all coasts of southern Africa. Namibia's great Sand ...