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The horse latitudes are the latitudes about 30 degrees north and south of the Equator. [1] They are characterized by sunny skies, calm winds, and very little precipitation. They are also known as subtropical ridges or highs.
Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from 23°26′09.7″ (or 23.43603°) to approximately 35° north and south. The horse latitudes lie within this range. Subtropical climates are often characterized by hot summers and mild winters with infrequent frost.
Variation in the location of the intertropical convergence zone drastically affects rainfall in many equatorial nations, resulting in the wet and dry seasons of the tropics rather than the cold and warm seasons of higher latitudes. Longer term changes in the intertropical convergence zone can result in severe droughts or flooding in nearby areas.
As a result, there is a balance of forces acting on the Earth's surface. The horse latitudes are an area of high pressure at about 30° to 35° latitude (north or south) where winds diverge into the adjacent zones of Hadley or Ferrel cells, and which typically have light winds, sunny skies, and little precipitation. [1] [2]
The 30th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 30 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane.It stands one-third of the way between the equator and the North Pole and crosses Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.
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]
Latitude Locations 90° N North Pole: 75° N: Arctic Ocean; Russia; northern Canada; Greenland: 60° N: Oslo, Norway; Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; major parts of Nordic countries in EU; St. Petersburg, Russia; southern Alaska United States; southern border of the Yukon and the Northwest territories in Canada; Shetland, UK (Scotland)
The parametric latitude or reduced latitude, β, is defined by the radius drawn from the centre of the ellipsoid to that point Q on the surrounding sphere (of radius a) which is the projection parallel to the Earth's axis of a point P on the ellipsoid at latitude ϕ.